The Lost Boy
by Reynard the Fox
Summary: After the mission to Wave, something happened to Naruto, and Team Seven finds their world shaken. He was lost. But can they find him again? It's a long road from that deep, dark place. Alternate universe. Rated T just in case.
1. Conversations among the Waves

Author's Note: Well, here it is. My first story in the Naruto fandom. I'm branching out now. Anyway, this idea is actually REALLY old. But one day in between trying to work on my other stories in between so many other life things, I remembered this story, and all the bits and pieces I had. Looking it with more skill and experience, I decided to take another stab at it. And now I finally decided to post it here.

I hope you guys like it. It may be a little deviating from canon and how things work, but that's sort of due to the age of the idea (Naruto was fairly early when I came up with this). But I hope you will forgive me. And since I have chapters one and two pretty much done, I'll be posting them at the same time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters within it. I'm just a fan.

Chapter 1: Conversations among the Waves

Sakura wandered the house that night. Despite doing nothing more than guarding Tazuna, sleep had eluded her. Her body and mind still felt too restless. As proud as she was to have aced tree climbing two days ago, she almost wished she had done more of it today instead, if only to help her fall asleep. But Kakashi-sensei had been right in having her guard Tazuna. He was still in less than ideal shape, and Naruto and Sasuke had been busy with their own tree climbing.

Wandering inside was better than outside. The night air was too chilly for her liking. As she moved through the hallways, she passed the rooms of her teacher and teammates. She almost went past Naruto's door, when she heard a cry from inside.

She paused, and saw there was still a light under the door, faint as it was. Was Naruto still awake? She could easily believe he'd still be awake, ball of endless, annoying energy that he was. Honestly, where did he get it all?

Then again, Sakura remembered the blonde's immense love of ramen. What it severely lacked in nutrition, it made up for in a lot of calories. That was probably one good explanation, especially if you factored in his voracious appetite.

Sakura thought back to the previous evening. They'd learned of Inari's father, and Naruto had charged back out to keep training, despite already working himself to the limit during the day. He stayed out there the whole night. Thankfully, Kakashi-sensei had managed to convince Naruto to sleep here for tonight. Just barely.

Another small noise came from beyond the door, something like a yelp. Despite being far too tired to deal with his usual annoyance, Sakura chose to investigate. Considering the hazards of this fiasco of a mission, it was best to make sure Naruto wasn't doing something stupid. Well, something _else_ stupid. Again. Really, Naruto practically had a daily quota for random acts of stupidity.

She knocked lightly. "Naruto?" She kept her voice low to avoid waking her other teammates, and anyone else in the house. When he didn't answer right away, she opened the door.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

She found the boy dressed in his pajamas and hunched over, seeming deep in concentration as he passed a needle through his orange jacket. He looked up at her at the sound of her voice. "Oh, um, hi Sakura. What are you doing up?"

She moved closer before sitting down on the floor next to him. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd walk a little, and I thought I heard something in here. Now what are _you_ up to Naruto?"

"The right sleeve of my jacket got torn, so I was just fixing it," He looked down at the jacket in his lap before messing with the needle again.

Sakura followed his gaze. "I didn't know you could sew," she said dumbly.

"Yeah, sure I can," replied the blonde, his cheeks taking on a pink hue. "I learned myself actually. You know, no parents and all to mend clothes..."

"Oh." Sakura felt a tiny stab at her heart, as if done by the little needle in Naruto's hands. Sometimes she forgot he was an orphan. "Do you need help with it?" she offered automatically.

The boy looked at her in surprise before he just gave her that easygoing grin. "Nah, I'm fine. Actually I'm pretty much done. See?"

He held up the sleeve to her, and she could see he was indeed done. But she also noticed that his repair was, well, sloppy. It was a messy, uneven bunch of stitches.

"Alright then. But I thought I heard you yelping. Are you okay?"

"Oh that," said Naruto, grin still fixed to his face. "I just pricked my fingers with the needle. Kinda happens a lot with me."

Sakura looked at his fingers, and saw several of them were red. But none of them looked punctured. He must have just grazed them with it, she decided. Even little needle wounds didn't heal that fast. "Don't you have a thimble?"

The response to her question was two slow blinks. "What's a thimble?"

"A thimble is a small covering you put on your fingers when sowing to prevent the needle from stabbing you, particularly the finger you use to push the needle," Sakura explained.

"Oh... I guess that would be nice," replied the blonde with a sheepish chuckle. "Hey, Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Why can't you sleep?"

"Well," it felt strange talking to Naruto like this. Usually conversations didn't go more than thirty seconds at maximum before he drove her nuts. "I just felt restless. Guess I still have too much energy to fall asleep yet."

Naruto nodded as he set aside the needle and his jacket. "Yeah, I feel that way too sometimes. But look at it this way, you're all ready when we face Zabuza again! And soon me and Sasuke will have this tree climbing down. This time all of us will take him down for good, believe it!"

"Keep your voice down Naruto, people are trying to sleep" she reprimanded.

The blonde's cheeks turned a deeper pink. "Sorry Sakura," replied Naruto as he scratched the back of his head.

Sakura let out a yawn. "I think I'm starting to wear out now. I'm going back to bed." She got to her feet and walked over to the door before looking back at her teammate. "You're not going to try anything stupid like sneak out and train, are you? Kakashi-sensei wanted you to stay in tonight."

"Nope," replied Naruto cheerily. Maybe a bit _too_ cheerily.

"Naruto, promise me you won't do that. It's freezing out tonight. If you sleep out there in those sort of temperatures you might catch your death of cold. And it's not like you have a fur coat to protect you like some of the wild animals out there."

The boy scowled for a second, realizing she'd caught on to whatever ideas he'd had in mind. Then his expression went back to that easygoing smile. "I promise Sakura, I'll stay in here tonight."

"Good." She let out another yawn. "Goodnight Naruto."

"Goodnight."

As Sakura entered her room and lay down in the bed, she wondered what the next few days would bring. Zabuza was a dangerous opponent, not to mention the boy that had helped him escape. Naruto seemed so confident they'd win. And somehow, his confidence made her feel better about the future.

She didn't even notice when she went under.

* * *

Once again, Sakura found herself wandering the house. But unlike three days ago, her insomnia wasn't from too much energy born from lack of activity. Tonight it was the opposite. Today had been a whirlwind of activity and emotion. Today, they'd fought against Zabuza and won. Today, they'd buried him and his partner Haku. Today, she thought Sasuke had died.

And despite it all, her body refused to sleep, still wired and ready, as if another disaster was going to strike, as if the battle wasn't over. She'd tried breathing exercises, and yet she still found herself unable to sleep. So she decided to walk again. The house was dark and quiet, as it was the other time she'd done this. She stopped by her sensei's door. She knew he was asleep, exhausted from his injuries and using his Sharingan eye.

 _Maybe I should check on them? They were all hurt during the fight._ It seemed like a good way to ease the restlessness she felt. She could hear very faint breathing on the other side of her sensei's door, but didn't bother opening it. She knew he locked it at night.

So she moved on to Sasuke's room. She opened the door and peeked in, moving the knob and door very slowly to minimize noise. Sasuke was there, passed out on the bed. His chest was covered in bandages, ones applied after the arduous task of removing all the senbon. Kakashi had given him something mild for the aching. Sakura watched the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, glad for it. She remembered how cold and still he'd been, lying there on the bridge, when she thought he was dead.

A part of her wanted to keep looking at his handsome features, but she knew she had to stop. Her mind and body were still too out of sorts for her to feel her usual attraction to him. So she shut the door as carefully and quietly as she opened it.

She moved on to Naruto's room at the end of the hall. She reached for the knob when she saw the light under the door. He was still up? Again? That was twice now. If this happened any more times while they were here, she'd start thinking he did this on purpose.

Still, should she knock? It was one thing to check on her team when they were asleep, just for her own peace of mind. But if Naruto was awake, it would just be awkward. And, knowing him, he might take it as a sign that he should keep asking her to date him.

After weighing the pros and cons, she chose to leave him alone and continue her walk. She still didn't feel relaxed, so she would make a circuit of the house, and figure out where to go from there if she still wasn't tired enough.

"Sakura?"

The pink-haired kunoichi had only taken a few steps from the door before she turned around, hair whipping through the air as she did so. There, clad in his pyjamas, was Naruto, leaning against the doorframe. "Can't sleep again?"

"Um," she started, unsure of what to say. This was the sort of thing she'd wanted to avoid. "Yeah. I thought I'd try walking again."

Naruto just nodded. "Me either. So, uh, why were you stopped outside my door?"

"What do you mean? I wasn't standing outside your door," she answered hurriedly, struggling to keep her voice down.

"You were," replied the blonde plainly. "I heard your footsteps outside. You were moving, and then you stopped. I'm not mad Sakura. I was just wondering, did you want to ask me something?"

"Um..." She didn't know whether to just flat out tell him she wanted to check on him or not. Inner Sakura screamed to just deny it and clock him upside the head. But Sakura knew that Naruto would probably make too much noise if she did that. Finally, she just caved in. "I was just wondering if you, Kakashi-sensei, and Sasuke were still okay, I mean with the injuries and all."

"Really?" Naruto looked at her in surprise, before he moved from the doorway and sat on his bed. "Sure Sakura! I'm fine. Okay, a little sore in some places, but that will probably be gone by morning. But I heal fast, so don't worry about it."

Sakura moved closer, tilting her body against the doorframe. She wasn't sure what else to do. Naruto healed fast? She supposed that made sense. His hand wound did seem to be in better shape than she would have thought. And even when they were patching up his senbon injuries, they seemed to be in fairly good shape compared to Sasuke.

"Are Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei okay, though?"

Sakura was shaken from her thoughts. "Oh. Yeah, they seem fine. Kakashi-sensei's door is locked, but I heard him breathing through the door. It sounded normal. And Sasuke seemed normal when I looked in and-" she froze, realizing she admitted she'd peaked into Sasuke's room. Her face turned red. "Please don't tell anyone I said that!"

To her surprise, Naruto didn't tease her. He just laughed lightly. "I won't Sakura, I promise. I think I might have done the same thing, check on my teammates I mean."

"Really?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to blush, shades of pink appearing under those strange whisker-like marks on his cheeks. "So, Sakura, do you think you'll be able to sleep now? I mean, now that you know we're fine" he said quickly, clearly trying to change the subject.

Sakura wanted to just say yes, but she stopped herself. "I'm...not sure" she finally admitted. "I still don't feel relaxed enough to fall asleep."

"You think maybe it was the fight? That's kinda why I can't sleep. I mean, the thing with Haku and Zabuza was sad, really sad. But we just saved a nation!" Naruto bounced once on the bed, but remembered to control his volume.

"Yeah, I guess I'm still wound up from everything that happened." She went into the room and sat down in one of the vacant chairs. "For a short while, I thought Sasuke was dead..."

"Me too," said Naruto. Suddenly, his face split into a grin. "But the important thing is that he's _not_ dead Sakura. We should be happy."

"Yeah..." She looked at the boy again, remembering the numerous bandages that were under his pyjamas, ones covering all the open senbon holes. She flashed back to Sasuke, equally covered in bandages, and the haggard look Kakashi had at the end of the fight. They'd barely had the energy for much more after burying Zabuza and Haku.

"I..." she whispered, realization dawned on her. "I was so pathetic, wasn't I?"

And she was. She realized now, the feeling that was still racing through her mind. It was a sense of shame and guilt.

"What? Sakura, you weren't pathetic."

"Yes I was," she muttered. "You and Sasuke fought Haku, and Kakashi-sensei took on Zabuza. All I did was stand by Tazuna. I didn't do anything. All three of you got all beat up and injured while I don't have a mark on me, and that's only because I didn't try. I haven't done anything. I'm a pathetic ninja." She could feel tears sting her green eyes.

"Hey," replied Naruto softly. "Listen Sakura, you're not pathetic. Somebody had to guard Old Man Tazuna in case something happened. That was really important. So what if nothing happened? It could have. And if anybody ever tells you you're a pathetic ninja, don't you ever listen to them."

She looked up at him, not even caring that she was on the verge of tears and confessing to _Naruto_ of all people. Maybe it was something about the darkness of the night, or the solitary nature of the room, lit as it was by the single candle on a nearby table. "Really?"

"Believe it," said Naruto with one of the biggest grin's she'd seen from him, and one of the kindest. "Don't forget, you've got awesome chakra control. Me and Sasuke had to _struggle_ to get all the way to the top of those trees. It took us days. But you? You did it on the first try. It took you like a couple minutes. I think that's incredible. And you're so smart Sakura. I think that you are and will be a really great ninja."

Her cheeks felt warm from his praise. She took a hand and wiped one of the tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you Naruto."

"No problem."

Sakura stretched her arms, and pushed a long lock of her pink hair behind her ear, before looking out the window at the dark evening sky. "It will be good to be back in Konoha," she said idly. "I miss the warmer weather, and..." she eyed the streams of fog close to the ground and chuckled, "I think I can safely say that all of us have probably had our fill of mist for a while."

Naruto laughed. "Definitely Sakura, believe it."

She laughed with him, before her eyelids felt heavy. She got up from the chair and stretched again. "I'm going to sleep now. You should too Naruto."

"Right," said the blonde as he scooted toward the headboard to pull back the blankets. "See you in the morning Sakura. Pleasant dreams."

"You too Naruto, you too."

* * *

Sakura walked down the forested road with her team, still happy for the return of sunny weather, free of the Land of Waves and the sudden rain clouds that formed when they had left. It was March 15th. Tomorrow, they would arrive back home.

 _We left on the 12th, we should have gotten home today!_ raged Inner Sakura.

That was true. They'd been delayed not far out from the Land of Waves by Naruto misplacing a ramen coupon. By the time he and Sasuke had returned, she and Kakashi-sensei had set up camp. But the trip wasn't a total waste. While Naruto _still_ lost his coupon, the two did manage to help round up lingering members of Gato's thugs. Naruto had regaled her and Kakashi with the entire adventure, with Sasuke interrupting at intervals to correct the blonde's exaggerations. This had led to more arguing, which Kakashi was quick to stop.

"I wish you were there Sakura!" Naruto had exclaimed. "It was so awesome, taking down those thugs. And Inari was awesome too, believe it!"

Part of her did wish she'd come along. It would certainly have been more exciting than waiting for hours. Still, with the good that came out of the delay, Sakura couldn't really stay mad at Naruto's antics. Neither could Kakashi for that matter. He congratulated both boys on their efforts when they finished telling the story.

She longed to sleep in her own bed again. The ones in the Land of Waves had been nice, but it just wasn't the same. And other things would be waiting for her at home, in time at least. She had plans to make. A bird started chirping in a nearby tree, and, lost in her thoughts, Sakura's face split into a beaming smile.

Just then, Naruto moved back so he was even with her. "What are you so happy about Sakura?"

She glanced at her loud teammate. "Just happy that we're almost home."

Naruto considered that for a moment, and then gave her a wry grin of his own. "I think it's more than that."

"Well, if you must know," she moved closer to whisper. "My birthday is this month."

"Really?!"

"Shh," said Sakura, seeing Kakashi and Sasuke turn back to glance at them for a second. "Yes, really. It's the 28th."

"But why don't you want the others to know Sakura?" Naruto whispered with disappointment.

"I just don't want to shout it out loud, that's all. I don't want them to think I'm just hunting for gifts or something." And she didn't. It was sort of weird to just scream your 13th birthday was fast approaching. Kakashi probably knew her birthday. He'd have been given their academy files after all. Though now that Sakura thought about it, that didn't necessarily mean he _remembered._ And she planned to inform Sasuke in a more gentle way when she got to talk to him next.

"Oh, I get it," whispered Naruto. "Do you mind if I get you a gift?"

Sakura almost stopped in mid-step before she corrected herself. "What?"

"Do you mind if I get you a birthday present?" Naruto repeated.

"I..." Truthfully, the idea hadn't crossed her mind. She expected gifts from her parents of course, and maybe Ino (she didn't discount the possibility of an exception being made for their usual feud). She thought it possible Kakashi might do something nice, or _nicer_ anyway. And she'd _hoped_ Sasuke might do something. But Naruto?

 _That's not a good idea!_ screamed Inner Sakura. _It would encourage him to keep asking you out! He'll do something stupid._

But then again, Naruto had been comforting to her on those nights in Wave. He looked at her now with such a hopeful, earnest expression. Really, what could happen?

"I guess not."

"Alright! Just you wait Sakura, I'll find something nice for you, believe it!" Suddenly, his stomach gave a loud growl. He put his hand over it. "Man I'm hungry. I can't wait to get back to Ichiraku Ramen." Naruto's face fell. "Too bad I lost the coupon."

To her surprise, Sakura felt her own mouth forming into a frown at Naruto's expression. "Didn't you say the owner gave that to you?"

"Yeah. He and his daughter run the place. They're both nice. I go there all the time."

"Well," Sakura said thoughtfully, "If he was the one that gave it to you, then maybe you could just tell him you lost it and he'll believe you. I mean, they might, if they know you that well and all. And besides, if he gave it to you that means he still expected you to use it."

In an instant, Naruto's face brightened with the energy of a star. "You really think so?"

Sakura just shrugged her shoulders. "It's possible. You've got nothing to lose by asking."

Naruto let out a loud, triumphant cheer, and Sakura actually had to suppress laughter. _You know, maybe he's not as much of a pain as I thought..._

"Alright! Let's rush back so I can get my free bowl from Ichiraku Ramen! Come on Sakura, let's go!" He quickly grabbed her arm and started to run.

"Hey, Naruto, slow down. You don't need to pull me. Watch where you're-" Sakura couldn't protest any further. Being pulled along as quickly as she was by the boy, she ended up tripping on rock, and landed face first into the ground, right in one of the number of mud puddles she'd been avoiding.

Kakashi and Sasuke had stopped to look back at the two of them. Naruto had let go of her arm now. He stood there, frozen in place. "S-Sakura? I'm so sorry Sakura! I didn't mean to do that."

Slowly, she pushed herself up, and leveled her gaze with Naruto. The boy stiffened before taking a _large_ step back.

"Uh, Sakura..."

She got to her feet, and spit out the piece of mud that had been in her mouth. Her red dress was covered in mud, as were her pink locks. She gave the orange-clad boy a glare of such intensity it would have melted kunai in midair.

Naruto..." she growled, stretching every syllable.

"Uh," Naruto's face was dripping in sweat now. "I think I'll go ahead..."

 _"YOU CLUMSY IDIOT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'LL..."_

"I'm sorry Sakura!" cried the boy as he bolted far ahead of his team. Sakura stayed right on his tail, her face a visage of pure rage.

"NARUTO, GET BACK HERE!"

If she'd been within earshot, she might have heard Kakashi mutter something about his team's sanity.

* * *

Sakura was humming a favorite song as she walked along toward the training ground. She didn't even care all that much that she had training that day. It was her birthday. She was thirteen now. Her parents had already wished her happy birthday, but had held off on giving her gifts until later today. But she was fine with that. She had to get up for training anyway, so she didn't have a lot of time to burn.

She _did_ however decide to sleep a little later today. She knew her teacher would be late, so she could afford to be a little later herself.

By the time she got there, Sasuke was already waiting under the shade of a tree, leaning against a trunk, eyes closed. When she arrived, he opened one eye. "You're late."

She was in such a good mood, his flat tone didn't even bother her. "Am I really? Kakashi-sensei is always late, and he's not even here yet."

Sasuke seemed to ponder that for a second before giving his usual "Hn".

Sakura's shoulders slumped a little. But she refused to let her good mood be ruined. "So, Sasuke," she opened tentatively, "Is there something else you wanted to say to me today?"

He opened one of his eyes again to stare at her in annoyance, before shutting it again. "No." Then he moved further across the training ground.

This time Sakura's shoulders slumped completely. _So much for that..._

Sakura sat down under another one of the trees for a half hour. All the while, she tried to keep her thoughts positive, focusing on the contents of favorite books from the Konoha Library.

Finally, there was a burst of smoke, and when it cleared, Kakashi was sitting on a stump. "Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei, you're-" Sakura was about to say reflexively, when another voice cut her off.

"Hi Sakura!" came a yell.

Sakura looked over to see Naruto running towards them. He had one of the biggest grins of his face she'd ever seen.

"Ah, there you are Naruto," said Kakashi casually.

"You're late you moron," said Sasuke, walking over toward their sensei.

"Well Kakashi-sensei got here at the same time," he retorted. Naruto practically bounded next to Sakura. "Happy birthday Sakura!"

She beamed back at the boy, not even bothered by his lack of volume control this time. "Thank you Naruto."

Kakashi looked at her with mild interest. "Oh, today's your birthday Sakura? Well, happy birthday."

"Hey, Sasuke, aren't you going to wish Sakura a happy birthday too?" asked Naruto, looking at the Uchiha boy.

Sasuke just glared and turned his head away. "Hn."

Her shoulders slumped again. Naruto seemed to notice this, and turned back to Sasuke with narrowed eyes. "Hey, you jerk! She's our teammate! You could at least wish her a happy birthday for crying out loud. I did that, and Kakashi-sensei did that. If it was your birthday today and I just found out, I'd still say that to you even though you're a giant jerk. Actually, no, you're not a jerk, you're a _rude_ jerk. I know you can talk. How hard can it be to just be nice and say three little words?!"

"Naruto..." she whispered, touched at how he came to her defense.

Sasuke, meanwhile, stared at Naruto for a few seconds before muttering "Happy birthday Sakura."

It wasn't the nicest sounding, in fact it sounded very forced, but Sakura took what she could get. "Thank you Sasuke."

"Oh, Sakura, I have a present for you," cried Naruto. "I had a shadow clone bring it. Let me go get it." The boy then took off to a patch of trees at the edge of the field.

"Really?" He'd really gotten a gift for her?

"Shouldn't we start training?" grumbled Sasuke in annoyance.

"Oh, I think it's okay to wait a little bit," replied Kakashi, his eye crinkling.

When Naruto returned, he was carrying a sizable rectangular box covered in rather cheap and dull looking pink wrapping paper, and tied with a very sloppy looking bow. "Here you go Sakura."

Sakura didn't waste any time opening it. What she found was... a potted plant. A sort of large potted shrub about a few feet tall with bunches of three leaves and buds that would no doubt turn into flowers. It was a weird sort of gift, but it wasn't bad, and it certainly wasn't ugly. Naruto was looking at her with expectant eyes. She smiled at him again. "It's very nice Naruto. Thank you very much."

Naruto blushed, unused to being thanked. "Y-You're welcome Sakura. I water plants all the time and I thought maybe you'd like one. I mean it's a lot bigger than mine but it's not too big."

Sakura laughed. "Right." As she fingered the leaves, some little, logical part of her brain nagged at her that there was something familiar about this plant. But for the life of her, she couldn't think of what. Maybe she'd seen this sort around the village somewhere?

Oddly, Sasuke was looking at it with interest. Was he actually jealous? Well, if something like this managed to finally draw his attention towards her, then it would be one of the best presents she'd ever gotten.

"Sakura..." Sasuke started.

"Yes Sasuke?" she said with a blush. She felt her heart beat faster. What was he going to say? Was this the opening to his affection she'd been hoping for?

"Is..." he continued, tilting his head.

"Yes?" Her heart was beating even faster now. It would burst from her chest at this rate.

"Isn't that..."

"Isn't that poison ivy?" interjected Kakashi.

"Huh?" Sakura's brain froze while she looked at the plant again. Memories of academy classes on survival flashed through her brain. _Poison ivy: can be a vine or a shrub, identified by leaves in bunches of three. Contains the oil urushiol which it uses to retain water. The oil causes an allergic reaction on human skin._ Her gaze moved and dully noted that her hands were still in contact with the surface of the plant.

Like lighting, the dots connected in her head. Urushiol. She had urushiol on her hands _right now!_ She screamed, dropping the pot to the ground like it were a hot coal, only for Naruto to catch it, and then she ran off. She needed to find a source of cold water, fast!

As Sakura ran off, Sasuke turned to glare at the blonde. "You idiot, why did you give her poison ivy?!"

"Well I-" Naruto stammered,

"You know what? Never mind. I don't want to know."

Kakashi looked down at the boy with disappointment. "Naruto, if this was one of your pranks, you should know better than to prank someone like that on their birthday. And besides that, a poison ivy rash isn't funny."

"But-"

The copy ninja let out a heavy sigh. "I'd better go see if Sakura needs help cleaning her hands."

"So is training cancelled for today?" asked Sasuke.

"Quite possibly. I'll let you know." With that, Kakashi was gone in a whirl of leaves.

"You're such a loser," said the Uchiha as he stalked back over to the other side of the training ground.

Naruto just looked between Sasuke and where Sakura had gone off to, and then back to the shrub. "But I wasn't playing a joke..." he muttered.


	2. Fire Burn

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I am just a fan.

Chapter 2: Fire Burn…

A week later, Sakura found herself on the training ground again, doing laps with her teammates. Of course instead of _regular_ laps, their designated track was loaded with traps prepared by their teacher. The man was a complete sadist. Sakura pulled her head back to barely dodge a tripwire kunai.

"Kakashi-sensei! Aren't these traps a little dangerous?" she cried. The knife had just barely missed her bright pink locks and embedded itself in a nearby tree trunk. _If he wrecks my hair I'll smash his face in,_ raged Inner Sakura.

"Don't worry Sakura, the kunai have been dulled," responded their teacher, not even looking up from his book. "A little bit anyway. Besides, think of it as a motivator to stay aware of your surroundings and test your reflexes."

 _Some motivator,_ she grumbled inwardly, spotting another tripwire and running around it.

Sasuke, in the lead of the three, managed to avoid the volley of shuriken that came his way with a quick leap backwards. Sakura took a moment to admire his graceful movements before she tried picking up speed to get next to him.

"Sasuke?" she said in between huffs, "Would you want to go out somewhere with me after training?"

The Uchiha boy didn't even look at her. He simply turned up his nose and pulled away. Sakura resisted the urge to hang her head. Another attempt, and another failure.

Up ahead, Sasuke went around a tripwire connected to an explosive tag. Seeing him, Sakura spotted the wire and did the same. At least they were remembering where the traps were, and since Kakashi wasn't setting anymore, this was all going rather swimmingly in Sakura's opinion.

"Hey guys, wait for me!"

She looked back to see her other teammate, trailing behind both of them. Reflexively, her right thumb rubbed the inside of her palm, still remembering what the blonde had done on her birthday. At first she thought she'd washed off the oil in time. But hours later, after she'd gotten home, she'd discovered a red rash all over her hands. Instead of eating cake when she was supposed to, she'd spent part of her birthday getting both hands treated with medication and buying a pair of leather gloves with a soft inner lining to wear in order to prevent scratching. She'd just been able to stop wearing them yesterday.

For that entire interim, she'd stayed away from Naruto, too angry to want to deal with him. And he'd had enough intelligence to stay away from her. Sakura supposed she had herself to blame. After all, she'd given him the invitation to get her a gift. Clearly he took it as a chance to prank her. What kind of moron did that on someone's birthday?

And it had to have been a prank. If Naruto had put the thing in a pot, he'd have gotten a rash, especially if he didn't know what it was. Unless he was immune, but most people weren't. So therefore, he'd probably bought it. But who would sell a little boy poison ivy?

It was odd though that Naruto was so far behind the two of them, she realized as she drew herself back to the present. She knew he was fast. Normally when they did laps like this, minus the traps, he was either ahead of her or even with her, talking her ear off.

In fact, in addition to not talking to her, Naruto had been particularly quiet this morning, not even bothering to argue with Sasuke. She saw how he was desperately trying to catch up to them, but his attempts to accelerate only came in short bursts before he seemed to wince and slow down again.

She turned her attention back to the road ahead, pushing those thoughts out of her mind. _At least he's not bothering me_ , growled Inner Sakura.

Behind her, Naruto tried accelerating again, wanting to catch up to his pink-haired teammate. But as he leapt forward, his foot caught on the tripwire the other two genin had so easily avoided. What followed was a loud boom that propelled Naruto into a stumble before he crashed into Sakura. The two of them were sent rolling before finally landing in a tangled mass of limbs.

It took Sakura several seconds to get her bearings, the world still spinning around her. As her vision cleared, she saw an orange arm draped over her stomach. "Naruto..." growled the kunoichi through gritted teeth. Pushing the arm off, she forced herself from the heap before clocking him on the head. The boy let out a groan. "Why don't you watch where you're going?! Didn't you see that tripwire? It wasn't hard to miss. You are so pathetic!"

The boy didn't respond. He just sat there nursing the lump on his head. "Are you listening to me?" She reached out and grabbed his right ear before tugging it.

"OW! Sakura let go! _LET GO!_ "

His sharp scream surprised the girl enough to make her release her grip. The boy just sat there, holding his ears tightly. "I'm sorry Sakura," Naruto said softly. "Please stop yelling. You're too loud."

Naruto's cries had drawn both Kakashi and Sasuke over to the pair. "What's the matter with you, moron?"

Kakashi looked down at the boy. "Naruto, are you alright?"

"My ears..." he whined, "They really hurt Kakashi-sensei."

The jonin bent down. "Let me see them."

Naruto lowered his hands, and Kakashi saw that both of the offending ears were a bright red. He touched one of them, and Naruto let out a hiss.

"Hmm, I'm not an expert, but you may have an ear infection."

Sakura looked at her hand and grimaced. "Yuck." She momentarily wished she'd kept wearing her gloves.

Kakashi pulled the boy to his feet. "I think you've had enough training for now Naruto."

The boy's face fell. "Aw come on Kakashi-sensei!" He clutched his ears again. "Ow..."

"Go get ear drops, okay Naruto? Follow the directions and let your ears heal. And if they're still hurting, don't come to practice tomorrow."

"Okay Kakashi-sensei," came the dejected reply. The boy walked off, still holding his ears.

Kakashi turned back to his other two genin. "As for you two, you can take a short break."

"Really?" said the Uchiha with flat disbelief.

"Yes. It will take me a little bit to reset the traps and add new ones."

Both genin groaned.

* * *

Exactly two weeks later, the members of Team Seven found themselves helping clean up one of Konoha's largest parks, along with all the other genin teams. It was a systematic process, doing it section by section, collecting trash in bags and depositing those filled bags at the shelter where their jonin senseis were. They'd started at mid-morning, around 10:30 AM. It was close to noon now.

Sakura wiped some sweat off her wide forehead, cursing the fact that the park was so large, but also thankful for their team not being alone. But even with all of the genin, it was going to take a long while to get this done. Over in the distance, she saw Ino yelling at one of her teammates.

"Shikamaru, get off your lazy backside and get back to helping," she cried. Shikamaru just frowned, lying in the grass and staring at the clouds, only getting up when Ino delivered a kick to his side. "You too Choji!" she said to her other teammate who was sitting on a bench eating from a bag of potato chips. "And remember to throw those bags away properly."

Choji looked at the pair of empty bags beside him before looking back at Ino guiltily, and putting them in his trash bag.

Sakura saw Sasuke on a nearby hill. He'd gone off in that direction after she'd tried to get him to work together with her. The pink-haired girl let out another sigh. Getting Sasuke's attention was like drawing blood from a rock. A very _hard_ rock. How would she win his affection at this rate? _At least Ino's not having any better luck than me._ She saw Ino trying to talk to Sasuke before he stalked off even further.

So Sakura trudged along through the park, skewering trash with the stick she'd been given along with all the other genin. The grass crinkled beneath her shoes.

"Watch out," said a soft voice from behind her. Sakura gave a small cry and whirled around to see Shino Aburame. She didn't know him very well, and didn't really know much about his clan. As far as she could gather, they were fairly quiet people, and Shino seemed to be no exception. Something about him made her skin crawl. Maybe it was the way he stared at her through those sunglasses of his. As far as she could remember, she'd never seen him take them off. Were they prescription glasses?

"What?"

"There's an ant hill about three feet ahead in that direction." He pointed out to a large pile of dirt well hidden in the grass.

Relief flooded her body. "Thanks for warning me Shino. I'd definitely like to avoid ant bites."

Shino's expression didn't change. "Actually I was more concerned for the ants. You could cause a great deal of damage to the colony if you stepped on it. Accidental of course."

 _What a weird guy. And how is he not melting in that coat?_

As she moved on, she spotted Team Guy. Neji was using his Byakugan to spot areas to be cleaned at a distance, and Tenten was marking them on a map, and giving Lee directions. Over in another direction, Shino had joined Kiba and Hinata. Akamaru was running around Kiba, seemingly overjoyed to be roaming the park, and Sakura felt a smile come to her lips. Akamaru was an adorable puppy. It made her wonder if maybe one of these days she should look into getting a dog. If she did, Kiba's family would definitely be the ones to ask.

After picking up some more trash, Sakura tied off her bag and headed to the shelter to drop it off. As she approached, she saw Naruto nearby. He looked flushed as he panted in the sun. The blonde's ear infection had cleared up the next day, which was odd, but Sakura didn't spend too much time pondering it. After that incident however, he was back to talking to her, and she let him. He still didn't bring up the mess that was his birthday gift, and she was perfectly fine with that.

"Kakashi-sensei," he yelled, "Why do we have to do this when it's so hot?!"

"It's important to clean up the park Naruto," replied Kakashi lazily. "Besides, the heat tests your endurance."

"So why aren't you out here helping too?" he fired back. Sakura had to agree with that. He and the other jonin could at least lend a little bit of a hand.

"Because I'm a jonin Naruto. I don't need this kind of experience." Beside him, Kurenai and Asuma smirked.

 _You're just being lazy as usual,_ declared Inner Sakura.

Naruto just leaned against his stick. "So hot..." he muttered. Then he winced and started scratching furiously at his back.

Sakura saw Hinata go up to him. "N-Naruto...are you okay? Would you like some water?"

He glanced back at her. "Oh hi Hinata. I'll be fine. I think I just need to take off my jacket. Besides, you look like you could use the water yourself. Your face is red."

"Oh, um..." Sakura saw the girl fiddle with her fingers, and the ever growing redness of her cheeks. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought it was a blush. Why would she be blushing at Naruto? Could the young Hyuga girl have a crush on him? Sakura rejected the idea almost instantly. Naruto was...well he was _Naruto._ The idea of someone actually developing a crush on him just seemed too strange to be possible.

Naruto took off his jacket and set it aside on a nearby bench, leaving him in only the black T-shirt. Strangely, it didn't have a drop of sweat on it. How in the world could Naruto spend all this time in the sun with a jacket and a _black_ T-shirt and not sweat? As he continued to scratch at his back, Sakura thought she saw something red poking out from under his right shirt sleeve.

Apparently, Kakashi noticed it too, along with his other behavior. He closed his book and walked over to Naruto. "Naruto, what's that on your arm?"

"Huh?" The boy blinked, before looking at his arms. "You mean that bump? I don't know."

"Alright, then perhaps you can tell me what's wrong with your back."

"It's just an itch Kakashi-sensei. I'm fine." He quickly stabbed another piece of trash before depositing it in the bag. He squirmed a bit under his teacher's critical eye. And Sakura saw the way his fingers twitched. He looked like he was resisting the urge to scratch his skin again.

"Hmm," was Kakashi's only reply, followed up quickly by "Naruto, take off your shirt."

"What?" he declared loudly.

"I want to get a look at your back. Don't argue with me."

Naruto frowned for a second before relenting, and Sakura saw Hinata's face turn a _very_ bright red. Sakura tilted her head. Could she _really_ have a crush on him?

Sakura was shaken from her musings when she saw the sudden wide-eyed expression on Hinata's face. When she looked at Naruto, she let out a gasp of her own. Naruto's back was an angry shade of red and covered in tiny raised bumps. From what Sakura could see, the redness extended to his upper arms and wrapped around the front of his torso.

"What are those, mosquito bites?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

"They're not mosquito bites," answered Shino, who had walked closer to the shelter, filled trash bag in hand.

Kakashi's eyebrow went up higher. "Then what are they?"

Naruto just looked at his red torso. "I don't know. They weren't there this morning, I swear."

"Offhand," replied Asuma and he, Kurenai, and Guy approached, "I'd say it's a heat rash."

"A what?" asked Kakashi.

"A heat rash," replied Kurenai. She walked up to Naruto and bent down to eye level. "Naruto, does your skin itch?"

"Yeah," he said slowly. "Kind of feels like, um..."

"Pins and needles?" she offered.

"Yeah, that's it."

Kurenai stood up and turned to her fellow jonin. "Definitely a heat rash then."

"And what exactly _is_ a heat rash?" asked Kakashi.

Asuma fielded the question. "It's a rash caused when sweat is unable to escape, so it sinks into a deeper area of the epidermis, causing irritation, which is the redness you see there, and a painful pins and needles type of itch."

His tone was so confident and authoritative. Sakura recalled Asuma-sensei was the son of the Third Hokage, and that the Third Hokage's wife had been a medical ninja. It seemed to her that, despite him not being a medic himself, some of that knowledge may have rubbed off.

Kurenai nodded as she looked over Naruto's torso a bit more. "Although this one seems particularly aggressive."

"No kidding," interjected Kiba. A lot more of the genin were coming to the shelter now to drop off their own bags. He stood closer to Naruto, examining the boy's red back. "Man, that is one _nasty_ looking rash." Akamaru barked in seeming agreement.

"It happens either because someone sweats so much it becomes overwhelming for the skin, or when someone dresses so warmly sweat isn't able to evaporate," continued Asuma, undaunted by the interruptions. "It's more common in children though because of their less developed sweat glands."

Now Guy had joined the conversation. "You'd probably have learned that already Kakashi, if you trained more genin like the rest of us."

Kakashi took the good natured jab without even flinching. "Well I just like to think I have higher standards than most," he glanced at the assembled genin, several of whom looked offended, before adding "present company excepted of course."

"In any case, I think it's best if Naruto sits out of the rest of the mission," said Kurenai.

"What?!" cried the boy. "I can still do the mission. A stupid rash isn't going to stop me, believe it!"

"There's a small risk of heat exhaustion," replied Asuma as he looked Naruto in the eyes. "The chances only go up if you continue strenuous work and stay out in the sun, and I'd say they're even higher with how widespread it is. Wouldn't you agree Kakashi?"

The copy ninja nodded. "Agreed. Naruto, you're going to stay here with us. The others can handle the rest of the mission."

"But-"

"Go ahead and do it you idiot," said Sasuke as he walked up to the shelter, carrying a large bag behind him. Sakura's eyes followed his movements. Even when carrying and collecting trash, he still projected an aura of coolness. "You look close to passing out. So do the smart thing for once and get in the shade. Besides," he added with a smirk, "We don't need you for this. You'd probably screw it up somehow."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Sasuke," he growled. He looked ready to leap at Sasuke and start a physical fight. Sakura stood ready to intercept, but before either she or Naruto could act, Kakashi put his arm in front of the boy.

"You need to get out of the sun Naruto. That's a direct order." Kakashi's voice took on a rarely used sternness.

Naruto still hesitated, looking at Sasuke and his fellow genin.

"Don't be stubborn Naruto," said Sakura with an aggravated sigh as she dropped off her own trash bag, "The last thing we need is you passing out, which you probably will if you keep going."

"Yeah," added Tenten, who was also getting new bags for her team. "There's no need to do that to yourself for a D-rank mission like this."

"Besides," said Shikamaru, being pushed along by Ino as he took bags of his own, "It's pretty obvious that you're fighting the need to scratch that thing. You'd be distracted if you kept working."

"Go and get that taken care of Naruto," said an irritated Ino, "It looks awful." She grimaced in clear disgust.

"Alright..." said Naruto solemnly.

Guy, however, seemed ready to weep. "Naruto, your determination to help in the face of unconsciousness has inspired me! The fire of youth truly burns within you. As such, I will join the mission to make up for the loss of your efforts. In fact, Kakashi will join me!"

Kakashi stared at the jonin with confusion and dread. "I will?" he croaked.

"YES! We'll make it a competition. We'll take the western side of the park. Come Kakashi, this time I'll defeat you for sure."

Guy went racing off, dragging a very reluctant Kakashi with him while the assembled genin and jonin watched in a mix of mostly confusion and embarrassment. It was moments like that which made Sakura almost glad she had Kakashi for a teacher and not Guy. Almost. It did however bring a small smile to her face to see her teacher get a little taste of his own sadistic medicine.

"Guy-sensei is so compassionate," said an awestruck Lee. "I will honor his efforts by working even harder!" Lee ran off toward another part of the park, an irritated Neji and a sighing Tenten following behind.

Kurenai got Naruto's attention. "Come on Naruto, you need to get in the shade." She placed a hand on his shoulder, which only caused the itch there to worsen and for Naruto to reach over and try to scratch it.

Feeling hot herself, Sakura took a minute to sit under the shelter and take a drink of water before she resumed work. She watched Kurenai sit Naruto down on a bench, setting his jacket and shirt next to him. "Wait here while I get some water and a few towels. We're going to clean off your skin first. That should help soothe the itching, and we'll see if you need any medication after that."

Naruto nodded without a word, and when Kurenai left, he returned to scratching at the rash.

 _Ha! Karma for the poison ivy,_ cried Inner Sakura in triumph. Sakura had to agree with that, but she also had to admit, it looked painful. The sight of him scratching so badly still brought a frown to her face.

"Stupid rash," Naruto muttered angrily. "Stupid Sasuke..." He stopped to wipe his forehead. "Man, I'm still hot."

In a few minutes, Kurenai returned with a bucket of cold water and a large quantity of paper towels, which she then started using to clean off Naruto's skin, starting with his back. From the relief on Naruto's face, it looked like the water was soothing the itch.

Maybe she should offer to help? Despite what he'd done on her birthday, some part of her felt bad that he'd developed such a large rash.

But just as she was about to volunteer, she saw Ino moving across towards a patch of trees. "Hey, Sasuke, wait for me!"

 _That Ino-pig. There's no way she's going to get Sasuke's attention instead of me_ , declared Inner Sakura. Glancing at the clock in the shelter, Sakura realized how long she'd been lingering. What if Sasuke started to think she was a slacker like Shikamaru?! With impressive speed, Sakura got up and grabbed a new trash bag, heading out in the same direction as Ino and Sasuke.

 _Naruto will probably be fine with Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei anyway. After all, it's just a heat rash.  
_

* * *

It was April 23rd when Sakura found herself waiting for her sensei on the usual training ground. Sasuke was further away from her, waiting under the shade of a tree, as he frequently did. Naruto was, surprisingly, not there yet. The last time he'd been late to practice had been her birthday. Part of her was wary that he was up to something again. By the time Kakashi showed up, this time claiming he had to help an old lady across the street, Naruto still hadn't shown.

"Well, we'll give him a little more time," said Kakashi with a shrug. "But while we wait, you two can do some basic target practice."

The two went to it without argument, and after ten minutes, they finally heard Naruto calling to them.

"Hi guys!"

Sakura holstered her kunai and turned to her teammate, arms crossed over her chest. "You're late Naruto. Kakashi-sensei got here _ten minutes_ ago."

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I, uh, overslept."

It was a pathetic sounding excuse, but Kakashi seemed to accept it.

With Naruto there, Kakashi had them switch training. First it was practice with the Substitution Jutsu. It was a basic move, but Kakashi wanted them to focus on improving timing and distance, throwing a rubber ball at them to simulate a weapon. Out of the three of them, Naruto got hit with it the most. Sakura had started to count the number of hits he took, but lost track after twenty eight. Or was it thirty?

After that it was sparring. It was her and Naruto first. It wasn't an especially hard fight. She'd managed to block or dodge most of what he threw in her direction, and she send him to the ground with a kick to the side when she saw his guard was down. He seemed a little slower to her during the fight. But then, Naruto had a tendency to be gentler when he sparred with her, no doubt because of his very obvious crush. It was infuriating, but ultimately it was his problem, since she frequently took advantage of it.

Naruto groaned as he got up from the ground. Kakashi then announced it was him and Sasuke next.

"I'll mop the floor with you this time," declared Naruto in between huffs, his face red.

"In your dreams," was Sasuke's only response.

The sparring match went underway, the boys trading punches and kicks. At one point Naruto employed his shadow clones, sending five of them against Sasuke.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura objected. Sparring matches like these were usually taijutsu only.

"It's alright Sakura," replied her teacher. "If it gets out of hand, I'll stop it."

Sasuke managed to dodge and block the attacks of the clones, even using the Substitution Jutsu to avoid attacks a few times.

"Is this really the best you can do?" mocked Sasuke.

"I'll knock that smug look off your face you jerk!" Naruto kept attacking, his anger getting the better of him. A few times during the fight, Sakura saw the chest and stomach of either Naruto or one of his clones twitch. It was odd, but just as quickly forgotten in the fury of the fight. With Sasuke's usual level of coordination and skill, he managed to disperse all of the shadow clones before sweeping the real Naruto's legs out from under him.

"I'm not done yet." Naruto got to his knees, ready to stand again. "I-" he said, before wincing as he moved his arm, and then breaking into a series of loud coughs that forced him to sit down. The boy then held his head in his hands, breathing hard.

Kakashi was looking at Naruto with a narrowed eye. Sakura saw it too. His face was still flushed, and Sakura saw a small trail of clear mucus at the edge of his nose.

"Naruto," asked Kakashi, "are you feeling sick?"

"W-What?! No Kakashi-sensei, I've never felt better, believe it!" Naruto laughed nervously, putting his hand behind his head only to wince again at moving it, and cough a few more times.

Sakura knew that was a lie, and so did Sasuke and Kakashi. The copy ninja walked up to the boy and took one his arms, flexing it. Naruto winced once again.

"It seems like your muscles are a little sore Naruto" said Kakashi flatly.

"I-It's just from training sensei, honest."

"You look flushed too," added Kakashi as he put a hand to the boy's forehead. "You seem to have a slight fever."

"I'm just worked up, that's all" Naruto defended again.

"There's the runny nose, and the coughing..."

"The coughing was from the dirt when I hit the ground."

Sakura took that moment to jump in, the dots connecting in her head. "No it wasn't. I saw your stomach twitch. You were suppressing the coughs, weren't you?" More connections raced through her head. "You caught the flu didn't you? And you were sick when you got here. Naruto, did you come here _knowing_ you were sick?"

Naruto just looked away from her. "Um..."

"I think that qualifies as a yes" answered Kakashi.

Sasuke just groaned. "Seriously Naruto? You're such a loser."

"I'll show you-" Naruto's comeback was halted by more coughing.

Sakura felt her blood pressure rising. "Naruto, you idiot! Why did you show up for training if you knew you had the flu?! What if you gave Sasuke your germs?" _Ha, as if Naruto's germs could actually get to Sasuke,_ scoffed Inner Sakura. But Sakura shut that voice up, knowing that they weren't his germs more than anyone else's. She paused when another thought occurred to her. "What if you gave _me_ your germs? Or even Kakashi-sensei?!"

Naruto looked a little guilty now, his face flushing a bit more. "Well, I..."

"You're so stubborn Naruto."

"She's right Naruto," added Kakashi. "If you realized you had the flu, you should have stayed home. There was nothing special about this training session that you couldn't have gotten back to later. You could have given us the flu, and you certainly weren't helping yourself get better. It's not good teamwork to risk making your comrades sick if you can avoid it. So as of right now, I want you to head home and rest before it gets worse."

"But I wanted to train," declared the boy.

"And your insistence on doing so could have made any of us sick as well, though hopefully not. You're not well Naruto. Now go home. Your teammates will be just fine training without you for a while." Kakashi's tone had an edge of annoyance to it. Sakura didn't blame him. It was one thing to wake up and feel unwell, but to still go out to ninja training when you knew you had probably contracted a flu bug? It was downright stupid. But considering it was Naruto, the action didn't really surprise her.

Naruto seemed to want to say something, but he stopped, holding his head. No doubt he had a slight headache from all the activity he'd been placing on his already stressed body. He looked at them, blue eyes filled with a mix of frustration, hurt, and fatigue.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei. I'll go home now." Without another sound other than a few light coughs, Naruto began gathering up his things.

Kakashi let out a sigh. "Alright. With that out of the way, we'll try some different training. Sakura, I want you to try target practice again. Your aim with kunai was still a little off earlier. Sasuke, you and I are going to spar. Understood?"

The two genin nodded and separated. Inner Sakura was grumbling again. _Kakashi-sensei always gives Sasuke personal training. Why doesn't he do that with the rest of us? It's not fair!_

Sakura pushed those thoughts back. Kakashi was a jonin, and he probably had an excellent reason for his actions. She headed back to the target practice area from before. As she walked towards it, she saw Naruto walking away toward the road back toward the main part of the village. He was moving slowly, pausing for a moment as he leaned against a post, holding his head and coughing, before continuing on.

As he moved further away, Sakura felt a trace of worry nagging her in the back of her mind. She turned her gaze from Naruto, pushing the feeling away. She didn't need to worry. Even if he had the flu, it didn't seem like it was too bad. He would be fine with some rest. Besides, he was _Naruto_. Knowing him, he'd be back up to his hyperactive, annoying self in maybe three days maximum.

As she adjusted her target, she took one more look back at the blonde's retreating form. The sense of worry came back again, settling like a rock in her stomach. She shook her head, pulled out her kunai, and threw it at the target.

"He'll be just fine," she muttered to herself as she took aim again. "I'm just being silly."

But even as she spent the rest of the day doing target practice, the feeling remained buried at the bottom of her stomach.

* * *

Kakashi had been woken up in the middle of the night or early morning many times in his career. Messengers from the Hokage or from his commanders in ANBU would greet him, bearing sudden orders. But such events had stopped once he'd been transferred out of ANBU and made a jonin instructor. But old habits die hard, so it was with only halfway surprise that he woke to yet another messenger.

This one was a young chunin he recognized as being an aide from the missions office. The young man was dangling from the ceiling, caught in the net trap Kakashi had set for anyone that would try to sneak through his window. It always paid to be cautious when one was a ninja. That's why all the other messengers had used the front door.

"Sir," said the young man with a very nervous salute after Kakashi had set him free. Kakashi wondered if it was his rank and reputation that intimidated the young chunin, or how easily he'd been caught. Either way, Kakashi had to hold back a chuckle.

"No need to salute. Now what did you come here to tell me?"

"Um, yes sir." The young man saluted again on reflex before forcing his arm down. "The village fire brigade requests your assistance dealing with an apartment fire on the west side, uh, sir."

Kakashi nodded. The village fire brigade had called on his help before on numerous occasions. Since an affinity for, or even knowledge of, water related jutsus was rare in the Land of Fire, the local fire brigade was made of civilians. Kakashi could probably count the total number of ninja in the village that knew water jutsus on both hands, himself already included. And of that group, he was the most experienced.

Still, helping the fire brigade could take a while. He thought of his students. They were supposed to meet for training this morning. For all the effort he put into being late, there was only so far he'd push it.

Besides, he might not even have the energy for the trio afterwards. So he told the messenger to go to each one of his genin team and tell them that he would be dealing with the fire brigade, that the meeting time was pushed back an hour, and he'd send word if it was canceled. As the young man turned to leave, Kakashi reminded him to use the front door.

His considerate act of the year done, Kakashi quickly dressed in his jonin gear before taking off into the village, heading for the west side. The location wasn't hard to find. He picked up the smell of smoke in the air as he approached.

The coats of the village fire brigade were equally easy to spot, the name of their unit printed on them in large, proud letters, even if they were partially obscured by soot and grime. They'd cordoned off a sizable area. In the center was the blackened remains of an apartment building. As Kakashi approached, he noted how the right side of it had caved in. Nearby, a crowd of villagers was gathered.

All of the firefighters looked completely worn. Kakashi made a bee line for the fire chief, a man named Kozu. He was easily distinguished by his dark brown, bushy mustache, and tall height.

"Hello Kozu. I heard you needed me," greeted Kakashi with mock cheer.

The man just grimaced as he looked over the scene. "Just for insurance Kakashi." His tone was gruff, like the angry growl of a large dog. His expression made him seem sort of like Ibiki. But despite similarities in height, Kozu didn't have Ibiki's width, or Ibiki's sadistic streak. "You know I wouldn't call you here if I didn't have to."

Kakashi just nodded. He knew the sentiment bore no offense. "So, what happened here?"

"Well-"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi turned to see Sakura and Sasuke coming up to him. "What are you two doing here?"

"We ran into the messenger while he was trying to find us," replied Sasuke.

"Sasuke thought it would be best to just come here instead of waiting at the training ground," added Sakura, blushing in Sasuke's direction.

"So the fire brigade asked for your help again, eh Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked to see Guy and his team coming towards him. Kakashi shrugged. "As it happens, yes. What are you doing here Guy?"

"Bad news travels fast," replied Asuma, coming up behind Guy with his team, along with Kurenai and her team.

 _Well, the gang's all here it seems..._ mused Kakashi.

"Do you people mind if we get back to work here, now that everyone's done saying hello?" barked Kozu.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Of course Kozu."

"As I was _trying_ to say, in the early hours of the morning we got a message about a large fire at this apartment building." He gestured to the half-ruined structure in the center of area. "We're not really sure where or what started it. We were going to interview the evacuees when we were done. But whatever the cause, the whole building caught fire, and fast, before it started spreading to the surrounding buildings."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "And of _course_ this happened on the west side. I keep telling the Hokage that something needs to be done around here. The way these buildings are, they're practically a pile of kindling just _waiting_ to go up."

He gave a sigh. "As soon as we got here, we evacuated everyone we could and started to put it out. Real monster of a fire. When we started making headway, part of the apartment building collapsed. Though I wouldn't have been surprised if those beams were already infested with termites. What I need you to do is take a look around the area and see if there are any embers remaining, and put them out. My men are totally exhausted from containing that thing and I don't want to take even the remotest chance that it will reignite."

Kakashi nodded again. "Understood."

"Kakashi-sensei," interrupted Sakura, "Can Sasuke and I help you look?"

The copy ninja shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Good," said Kozu, before turning to address the other genin teams. "And I'd like all of you to stick around for a while. After we make sure all potential embers are out, I'd like your help dealing with the unstable buildings."

"We'd be honored to help!" declared Guy. "Right Lee?"

"Right!" replied his student.

"We'd be happy to help you as well," added Asuma, which got a groan from Shikamaru.

"As would we," said Kurenai.

Leaving Kozu and the other teams to themselves, Kakashi moved over to the cordoned off area, his students following behind. His eyes glanced off the charred wood and scorched stone. Kozu wasn't kidding about the scale of the blaze, if the remains were any indicators. But then, Kakashi knew he wasn't one for hyperbole. He spotted a glowing ember before putting it out with a minor water jutsu he knew that created a miniature raincloud.

"Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she and Sasuke came up behind him, "Why didn't the fire brigade call you in earlier? I mean if it was really that bad, shouldn't they have gotten your help right away? Does the fire chief not like you or something?"

"It's nothing like that Sakura. Kozu is a very proud man. He only took over as fire chief a couple years ago actually."

Kakashi moved the small raincloud to another ember. "His predecessor actually called me and other ninja in far more often. But Kozu doesn't want that. He feels that, since the brigade is made of civilians and there are so few shinobi in the village with water skills, the brigade needs to be able to handle things on their own, and not become dependent on those few ninja for every problem."

Kakashi saw Sasuke nod his head in approval. The copy ninja omitted the rest of the argument, which Kozu had told Kakashi over drinks one night when they ran into each other at a bar.

He'd compared the problem to the disaster that was the Konoha police force, or, rather, the current _lack_ of one. It had been under the control of the Uchiha clan, and had been reliant on that clan to fill most of its ranks. With them gone, Kozu pointed out, the police force was non-existent. Kakashi figured that Sasuke wouldn't be so happy to hear that part, no matter how right Kozu had been in his comparisons.

As his genin helped him spot a few more embers, Kakashi idly wondered where his last student was. Was Naruto sleeping in? He wouldn't have been surprised. The training that Naruto had done probably exacerbated his flu.

It did make Kakashi wonder though. While the chakra of the Nine Tails helped accelerate the natural healing process, how effective was it in assisting against infections? Did it mass produce white blood cells? It was true that Naruto's ear infection had been quick to heal. But that was hardly enough evidence to draw a good judgement.

Well, one thing was for certain. If Naruto didn't show up for training, Kakashi wouldn't hold it against him this time.

His idle musings were cut off when he heard Sakura speak again. "Sasuke, isn't that the messenger that ran into us?"

"Yeah, I think it is" came the answer.

Kakashi had just finished dousing another glowing fragment of wood when he turned his head. Indeed, it was the same young chunin that had brought him the message. He was standing there, looking extremely confused. Not spotting any other embers for the moment, he dispelled the raincloud and walked over to the boy.

"Sir!" said the young man with a salute as soon as he saw the jonin.

Kakashi just waved at him. "Yo. What are you doing here?"

"I was, um, looking for your other student, Naruto Uzumaki. From the address you gave me, I thought he lived around here. But I can't seem to find it. I... I think I must have copied it down wrong."

Kakashi looked around at the buildings and street signs. Alarm bells started to go off in his head. _Please don't let this be where I think it is._

Without another word, he leapt back over to Kozu. "What was the address of this apartment building?"

He was confused, but told Kakashi the address. It was as he feared. He knew that address. He'd been here before. This was Naruto's apartment building. The mental alarm bells were loud enough now that, if they were real, they would have been deafening.

Kakashi saw another member of the fire brigade by the crowd of evacuees and bolted over to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his fellow jonin taking notice of his behavior, concern written all over their faces. His students, meanwhile hung back in confusion.

"You there," he said to the fireman sternly, "Have you made a list of the evacuees?"

The man was startled by Kakashi's sudden command. "Um, yes. I have it right here. We made a list of all the tenants in the affected buildings and checked it against every one of the evacuees."

Kakashi snatched the list from his hand before the man could protest, and scanned it over. He went through name after name, seeing each marked as present and alive. But then he found one name that had nothing next to it.

He tossed the list back to the firemen and approached the crowd. "Has anyone seen Naruto Uzumaki? He's a twelve year old boy, short, with blonde hair and blue eyes."

The crowd looked around, but no one said anything. Kakashi turned to look back at the building before whirling around and pointing to a nearby woman. "You!"

The woman took a step back, eyes wide. "Um, yes?" she squeaked out.

"What side would apartment 4-D have been on?"

The woman stood there confused, Kakashi's gaze making her squirm, but managed to stutter an answer. "Um, t-the r-right side."

 _The side that collapsed..._

His genin team had come up to him now. "Kakashi-sensei, what is it?" he heard Sakura ask. Her voice seemed far away. He vaguely registered Sasuke looking at him with barely masked concern.

Kakashi just looked at the wreckage again before he leapt over to it, uncovering his Sharingan and moving it across the ruined stone and wood with barely controlled motions. _Come on Naruto, show me a chakra signature._

A firm hand gripped his shoulder. "Kakashi! What's the matter?" It was Guy, worry firmly etched onto his face and looking every bit discordant on him.

"This was Naruto's building. He's not in the crowd of evacuees. His apartment was on the side that collapsed." Kakashi breathed out, eyes turning back to the ruins.

Guy paled. "What?!" Nearby, the other teams took on expressions of horror.

"He could have been buried in the wreckage" continued Kakashi, still desperately searching for a flash of color that would indicate a survivor.

In a move that surprised everyone, Hinata dashed to the wreckage, activating her Byakugan. Her face was ashen as she searched in visible desperation.

"Neji!" called Guy.

Without a word, Neji joined in the same search. Eventually though, he shook his head, and so did Hinata, though she only did so after a great deal of resistance.

The jonin had gathered closer together now. "Could he have gotten out before the collapse?" asked Asuma.

"He was sick the day before, but I suppose it's not impossible..." admitted Kakashi.

Kurenai looked around at the many streets. "He could have slipped away from the area and the main crowd of people."

"He would be hurt though, wouldn't he? Wouldn't someone have noticed?" said Guy.

"Not necessarily" answered Kakashi, wheels turning in his head. "Naruto heals at an accelerated rate thanks to...you know what," he said, keeping his voice low to avoid the genin overhearing. "So whatever damage he sustained might have healed or at least decreased. But that doesn't mean he might not be worn out between that and the flu from yesterday."

"A search of the general area seems best," said Asuma with a nod. "We could have all our genin spread out to widen the search. Ino has been working on the Mind Transmission Jutsu, so she could communicate with my team at least."

"You know my team specializes in tracking and location, so they have a high chance of finding him," said Kurenai.

"And though only Neji has the Byakugan, Lee and Tenten have the vigorous power of youth on their side!"

"If Naruto is anywhere around here, we'll find him," said Asuma with a reassuring smile.

Kakashi's eye crinkled. Even with everything he'd lost, he still had friends among these jonin. "Thanks."

Kakashi and his fellow jonin split apart to give their respective teams orders, spreading them out in all directions. The jonin each went their own way, and Kakashi summoned all of his nin-dogs to further expand the search. As he moved from rooftop to rooftop, Kakashi's mind was a flurry of activity. Naruto's healing rate would have helped him against any burns. And he hadn't been under the rubble.

 _Or maybe the Byakugan can't distinguish dead bodies. The chakra that gets let loose from the seal is limited. Even it might not be able to keep up if a building got dropped on the boy._ Kakashi pushed those thoughts out of his head. He couldn't give up hope. For all he knew, maybe Naruto wasn't even home last night. If he was unhurt, they'd all laugh. But he had to be here. He had to.

 _Please don't let me have lost my teacher's only son._

* * *

Sakura dashed through the busy streets of Konoha, eyes scanning the crowd for her blonde teammate. Where was he? She stopped by one of the stalls. "Excuse me. Have you seen Naruto Uzumaki anywhere around here today?"

The man at the stall just sneered. "No," he said in an even tone. "I haven't seen that blonde brat all day."

Sakura was too panicked to pay his attitude any mind, rushing away and through the streets. The normally polite girl didn't bother asking people to move. Instead she just plowed through them when she couldn't slip by.

 _He has to be here. He just has to be. You idiot, where are you?_

Suddenly she found herself running right into something solid. Falling to the ground, she looked up to see a rather large and angry man staring down at her.

"Watch it you little twerp," he sneered. "Are you some kind of moron, running into me like that?"

Adrenaline still surging through her body, Sakura felt the "flight" response turn to "fight" and the anger of her inner personality was momentarily unrestrained as she glared back at the man.

"I'm a ninja and my teammate is _missing,_ so do me a favor and _get out of my way!_ "

The man retreated, her furious scream echoing in his ears as she punctuated it with a punch right to his gut. The rest of the civilians gave her a wide berth after that. Sakura searched and searched, but found no trace of the blonde anywhere.

Stopping briefly at an intersection to catch her breath, Sasuke hopped down from a roof to join her. "Anything?"

"No," she answered with a huff. "He's not anywhere. Everybody I asked said they hadn't seen him all day. Where else could he be?"

The two pondered the question before speaking the answer at the same time. "Ichiraku Ramen!"

"Come on, it's this way."

Sasuke grabbed her hand as they started running, before realizing what he'd done and letting go, never allowing himself to lose speed. Sakura might have blushed at the sudden contact and gone into a giddy mental spiral. But the adrenaline was overriding everything, a sense of dread that pervaded her, like an amplified version of the worry she'd had yesterday.

Knowing Naruto though, they'd find him laughing and stuffing his face at the ramen stand. The idea soothed her mind as they continued towards it. _Yeah, Naruto will be sitting there like always. Then we can yell at him for scaring us. I'm going to punch him so hard when I find him._

Finally they reached the stand. But Naruto wasn't there. It was empty of all customers. Sakura got ahead of Sasuke and went up to the counter. Ayame was busy cleaning a bowl when Sakura approached. She greeted the pink-haired girl with a soft smile. "Oh hello. You're Naruto's teammates, aren't you? Sakura, right?"

"Yes, I am" Sakura said curtly, throwing aside her normal politeness. "Have you seen Naruto today at all?"

The brunette set down the bowl. "Naruto? Hmm, I don't think so."

Sasuke had come up beside Sakura. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. Even _his_ usual cool was starting to crack, just a bit.

"Well," Ayame admitted, "I wasn't here for the first part of the morning shift. There was some repair work in the apartment that needed to be done."

"Ayame, is everything okay?" called a voice from the back.

"Yeah Dad. Naruto's teammates are here and they're wondering if we've seen him today. Did he come by while I was upstairs?"

Teuchi came out from the kitchen, still holding a spatula. "Naruto? No, he hasn't shown up at all today. The last time we saw him he was walking down the street towards his apartment."

Ayame nodded. "Yeah. He looked awful. When we got his attention, he said he was feeling sick and was just headed home. He didn't even stop for his usual meal."

Teuchi looked at his watch, eyebrows furrowing. "Actually, he should have shown up by now. Is there something the matter?"

"There was a fire at his apartment building," answered Sasuke.

The pair's eyes went wide. "What?" cried Ayame. "Is he okay?"

"We don't know," said Sakura. "We can't find him anywhere. If you see him, could you please tell one of the jonin instructors as soon as possible? They're all helping us search."

"Of course." The ramen chef nodded gently. "Ayame and I will keep our eyes peeled for him."

"Thank you." With that Sakura was off again, she and Sasuke splitting up at another intersection. As she weaved through the streets of the village, the worried feeling from the day before returned, settling again in the bottom of her stomach, this time like a lead weight. With every street and every corner she passed by without a trace of the blonde, the same thought repeated in her head over and over.

 _Naruto, where are you?_


	3. Requiem

Author's Note: So here it is, chapter 3.

Lily73322, Anna, and yuvimonlegreat: Thank you so much for saying that. I'm glad you're liking the story, and I intend to write more (if this chapter was any indication. XD).

Although, to everybody reading this, I'd just like to say that you really shouldn't expect me to keep this kind of pace as far as updates go. This sort of thing is a major fluke for me.

As I said before, this idea is very old, and it's only been within recent months that I remembered it, took a look at it, and began playing with it in between other stuff, and only now, thanks to a dear friend's encouragement, did I post it. The only reason the first two chapters were posted together is because they were already finished. I would have put up chapter three yesterday too, but I felt it still needed tinkering, so that's what I was doing yesterday and today.

I don't actually write these out that fast, and for those that haven't read my work (although I do encourage you to, as I put a great deal of effort into those), I don't want to give anyone a false impression of how fast this will be updated. I still have more scenes already partly written out, so that will still accelerate it a bit, but I'm just giving a fair warning.

So without further ado, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. I am just a fan.

Chapter 3: Requiem

It was a week later, after a furious search in which the Third Hokage employed a squad of ANBU, when a funeral was held for Naruto. Sakura stood there as the Third Hokage gave a eulogy. Instead of her usual red dress, she'd worn a black one, and tied her hair back into a bun. She let her eyes wander.

Despite the Third Hokage being present, the affair was a small one. No one other than the rest of her team, Teuchi, his daughter, and Iruka-sensei had shown up. She glanced at Sasuke. His face was unreadable, but she could see anger in his eyes as he looked at the gravestones. He too had changed into more formal clothing, and she saw his hand absently scratch at the back of his neck. The clothes looked new to her. Then again, how long had it been since he'd been to a funeral? His older clothes probably didn't fit.

Kakashi still wore his jonin vest, but the difference in him was one of attitude. He'd arrived early for this. And Sakura noticed his back pouch, the one he kept his favorite book in, seemed empty today. His whole body was tense as the speech went on.

Sakura couldn't listen to it, despite the speaker, despite the beautiful words she knew it contained. All she could think about was the fact that her teammate was _dead_. The sky was overcast today, which just made the whole thing feel even worse. But at least it wasn't raining, Sakura told herself. That would have been too much to bear, as if the world was truly mocking her, mocking them.

After the service, the three were left to give their own, private goodbyes to the small, nondescript marker, the only remainder of what had been a living, breathing person. Sakura couldn't even form words when she walked up to it. The reality of death hadn't really hit her before this. This wasn't like Sasuke during the mission. Someone was truly dead. There was no body that would suddenly stir this time. Eventually she realized the words just wouldn't come, and moved away.

She walked beside Sasuke as they were leaving the cemetery. Iruka-sensei had already left, as had Teuchi and Ayame, and Kakashi had gone ahead and was speaking to some of his fellow jonin.

"I wonder what's going to happen to us now that we lost our third member," said Sakura.

"I don't know."

Sakura turned her head back toward the gravestone. "We probably won't be able to be in the Chunin Exams this..."

Sakura didn't finish her sentence, stopping mid-stride. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke turning to look at her before following her gaze.

There was a group of villagers around Naruto's grave. Sakura moved back towards it, going behind a tree. Sasuke followed suit.

"So he's finally dead," said one of the larger men in the group. "Took long enough." He spat down on the gravestone.

"I bet he burned to death," sneered a middle aged woman who looked like a baker. "Burned up into ashes." A cruel laugh flew free from her throat. "I hope he screamed."

"Yeah," added another man, who looked like a chef. "I bet those support beams crushed the bones into powder too. That's why there was no body."

"Good riddance I say," slurred one of the other women, bottle in hand, clearly having partaken of it already. "I say we go out and celebrate. Today should be a holiday for the whole village!" She staggered and leaned on the larger man. "Right brother?"

"Right Reika," he replied with a smile.

"I know just how to start off the festivities Hiroto," added another man. "Brought it with me."

He opened the bag slung over his shoulder and took out buckets of paint and a brush.

The large man smiled. "Good idea Kogoro."

Sakura watched in silent horror at the group. When they took to splashing paint on the gravestone, she'd had enough. She came out from behind the tree and stomped towards them.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

The villagers turned to see the fuming girl coming toward them. "Nothing that concerns you," said Hiroto.

"Yeah, go home pinky," slurred Reika.

"You should go home and celebrate like we are!" cried Kogoro, splashing more paint on the grave. It was a gleaming red, like fresh blood.

Sakura felt sick in her stomach. "How dare you? How dare you deface someone's grave on the day of their funeral? What's _wrong_ with you people?! A ninja of the Leaf Village is dead. A twelve year old boy is _dead!_ If that's a good reason to celebrate then I'd rather never be happy again. You disgust me!"

Horiko's face darkened. "Maybe we should teach you a lesson instead?"

"The only thing you're going to do is clean up the mess you made and leave" said Sasuke as he came up behind her.

Horiko scowled. "You too huh? I don't care if you are an Uchiha. You're not telling me what to do."

The man lunged at them, and both stepped out of the way. Sakura sent him to the ground with a leg sweep, and followed it with a blow to the head to knock him out. Sasuke meanwhile, easily dodged Kogoro, and delivered a punch to the gut that dropped him to his knees.

The two faced the other civilians, ready in case another tried anything. The civilians looked back at them warily.

"You still can't tell us what to do," yelled the baker woman. "You don't have the authority! You're just genin."

"True, which is where I come in." Just then, Kakashi appeared in between the two groups. "I'm a jonin, and their sensei." He glared at them with his one exposed eye. "Now, all of you are going to clean up the mess you've made on this gravestone. You have until tomorrow to complete this task or you will _all_ be arrested. Do I make myself clear?"

There was a collective grumble, but their body language showed that they were clearly intimidated. Horiko and Kogoro were gotten to their feet, and all of them fled from the cemetery.

"How can people be like that?" fumed Sakura as her eyes looked over the awful splashes of paint they'd left, the foul words they'd written.

Kakashi simply sighed as he addressed his pupils. "You two should go home and rest. We'll meet at the training ground in a few days, okay?"

The two of them offered no argument as they left the cemetery. As she walked away, Sakura saw Hinata Hyuga standing nearby. She looked on the verge of tears. But Sakura didn't get any closer, fearing that she might snap any moment from all the anger boiling inside her.

* * *

Sakura wandered the village for a while before she returned home, her anger fading away into pure exhaustion. Along the way she ran into Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru.

"We're sorry about Naruto," Ino had said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

It was strange. The two of them had turned into such bitter rivals because of Sasuke. She couldn't remember the last time they'd spoken kind words to each other. Ino didn't even like Naruto. And yet here they were, and Sakura had no doubt Ino was being sincere.

She just shook her head, thanked Ino, and headed on home. She didn't eat much at dinner, despite her mother's worries. She just didn't feel hungry. She went to bed early that night, not having the energy for anything else.

* * *

She was wandering the village again. It was night. The streets were lonely and winding in the commercial district, the stands having closed up by now. The moon hung overhead, impossibly large and casting an eerie silver glow on everything. Cool air blew against her skin and through her hair, and tendrils of fog twisted along above the ground.

And then she saw him. Naruto. He was standing there down the street, yards ahead of her. He still looked sick, face flushed and breathing hard. But he was there. He was alive.

She ran towards him, a smile breaking out on her face. "Naruto!" she called out. But the boy didn't hear her. He just turned and slowly moved down the street. She kept running, but somehow he stayed ahead of her, just out of reach. He turned a corner, and she followed, only to skid to a sudden halt.

He was gone, vanished.

What was that light in the distance? The sun? Was it morning already? She took another breath to refill her lungs, and coughed. Then Sakura realized, the mist wasn't mist. It was _smoke,_ thick, black, suffocating smoke. And then she knew, the light in the distance wasn't the sun.

It was _a fire._

She ran towards it, taking to the rooftops to get above the smoke, pounding her feet against the concrete. A building was ablaze, transformed into a tower of fire that lashed out like it was alive. Looking at it, Sakura thought it looked like some horrible abomination poised to strike, the gnashing flames becoming a set of vicious jaws.

She dropped back to the ground, running toward the inferno. "Naruto! Naruto, I'm here! Hold on, please!"

Before she could reach the blaze, tendrils of smoke shot out and wrapped around her arms. The black clouds took on vaguely humanoid shapes as they held her down. She struggled against them, feet and hands digging into the soft earth beneath her. But the more she fought, the stronger they seemed to be. But she had to reach him. She just had to. She had to do something.

Then in the middle of the conflagration, she saw him. Naruto was there, lying on a bed, still feverish as he pulled the covers over himself. If she could just reach him. Where were the others when she needed them? Where was Kakashi? Sasuke? The other genin? Where was anyone?

Sparks danced at the edges of Naruto's blankets. She watched as they caught fire, watched in horror as it raced up towards him. She thrashed against the things in the smoke, not caring about the particles of dirt and dust she swallowed. "Wake up Naruto! You have to get out of there! Wake up! _WAKE UP!_ "

The flames consumed the bed. Naruto's outline convulsed before her eyes, and his strangled screams reverberated in her ears like the clapper in a giant bell. The smoke creatures that held her took on faces now, like the kind carved in pumpkins, eyes and grinning mouths filled with glowing flames.

"I bet he burned to death," came a voice from the smoke. "Burned up into ashes. I hope he screamed."

The smoke filled her lungs and stung her eyes. But still she struggled against it, desperate to be free. When it finally cleared, she found herself in the nondescript room. In the center was the ruined remains of a bed. And placed on top of it, illuminated by the moon, was a small skeleton, blackened and charred. It lay there contorted, mouth open as if to scream. Sakura saw the orange jacket still gracing the shoulders, and a Hidden Leaf forehead protector still adorning the skull.

She approached slowly, legs stiff with horror, trying to move now leaden feet. "No no no no..." This couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening. She reached out to touch the remains when she heard an ominous rumble, like looming thunder. Another voice spoke, echoing off the ruined walls.

"I bet those support beams crushed the bones into powder too. That's why there was no body."

Stone and wood began to fall. Her legs instinctively leapt away, defying her mental protests not to move. Sakura watched on as the debris crushed what was left of Naruto Uzumaki.

"NARUTO!"

* * *

Sakura sat up in bed with a scream, sweat coating her skin and tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" It was her mother's voice beyond her bedroom door. When she didn't answer, the door opened. Mebuki Haruno took one look at her, and instantly swept her up in a hug.

"It's alright sweetie" she whispered, running a hand through her daughter's pink tresses. "You're okay. Shhh."

Sakura hadn't been held like this since she was nine. She was a ninja now. She was too old for this. But right then, she didn't care. Sakura hugged her mother back with everything she had, and cried on her shoulder until she had no more tears to shed.

* * *

Kakashi stood in front of the Memorial Stone, like he often did. But today wasn't like most days. His heart was heavier as he approached it. He looked down at the names engraved on it, saw his friends and comrades.

"I'm sorry haven't come in the last nine days. There was an... _incident._ Minato-sensei, I failed you. Naruto is gone."

He swallowed, imagining the expressions on the faces of his friends and teacher. "There was a fire in his apartment building. He was nowhere to be found. I really shouldn't have let him go home alone sick. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

He wondered what his friends and teacher thought of him. Were they disappointed? Angry? Was Minato furious? Was Kushina angry that her son burned? Would she come back from the dead to wreak unholy vengeance on him? An image flashed in his mind of her in life, red faced and glaring, the locks of dark red hair practically floating in the air.

If he could believe anyone's anger could cross the divide of death, it was Kushina Uzumaki. And though she hadn't had the chance to prove it, he knew that if she'd lived, she would have been the mother of all mother bears. At this point, he might even welcome her wrathful specter.

"I thought I would find you here Kakashi."

Kakashi turned around to see Maito Guy behind him. His rival walked up beside him, and looked at the stone. His usual over the top theatrics were missing. "Visiting friends again?"

Kakashi didn't have to say anything. He knew it was a rhetorical question. "I failed him Guy," was all he did say.

"You can't put all the blame on yourself you know," said Guy.

"But I _can_ blame myself for some of it," came the copy ninja's retort. "I was too occupied, too focused on training Sasuke. When Naruto was sick that day, I just let him go home and didn't think to check on him. I've lost so many friends in combat." His hand reached out and touched the characters that had been so carefully etched into the dark stone. "But this time, it wasn't even combat. It wasn't even a mission. There were no accepted risks. I was just negligent."

"You can't undo what's already been done Kakashi. But if you do feel so guilty about it, I know what you can do."

Kakashi turned to look at his old friend with his one visible eye. "What's that?"

"Remember that you still have _two_ other students, students who could probably use their teacher now more than any other time."

He remembered Sasuke and Sakura at the funeral, how they had confronted the villagers. He nodded his head. "But how much can I really do with them without a full team? They won't be able to be in the Chunin Exams this year."

Guy just chuckled. "And what makes you think that matters Kakashi? Many genin don't compete in the Chunin Exams for one reason or another. And even if they can't go up in rank, it doesn't change the fact that you're still their _teacher._ If any of my students were hurt and couldn't participate, and the rest of the team couldn't be in the exams, do you know what I would do? I'd keep training them."

Guy gave one of his broad smiles, his teeth practically sparkling in the sun. Kakashi never knew how exactly he managed to do that. "Go. Go teach the students you _do_ have. Help them to shine."

Under his mask, Kakashi smiled back. For all of Guy's insanity, he was still one of his best friends. "Thanks Guy."

"And the next time I challenge you Kakashi, I'm going to win."

"We'll see Guy, we'll see."

* * *

A couple days later, Team Seven was waiting at the usual training ground. Sasuke was standing under his usual tree, eyes closed, arms across his chest. But he found himself unable to relax. He'd found it difficult the past week to relax much really. He liked it when things were quiet, but now it was _too_ quiet. Normally on days like this Sakura would be talking his ear off or Naruto would be making a whole ton of racket with his various stunts.

But Naruto was gone now, and all that was left was... a _void._ A hole in an expected routine.

He wished he could fill it. He wished something would happen to distract him, that his sensei would just get here already. The last week had reminded Sasuke far too much of the days in wake of...of _that night._ He hated the fact that he needed to go to a funeral again at all, the mass funeral he'd gone to feeling like it was just yesterday despite the gulf of years between that day and this one.

He cast a glance at Sakura, sitting under a neighboring tree. She was usually quiet this morning too, knees curled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs. Her gaze looked a thousand miles away, her brow furrowed in heavy concentration.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm." _Probably going to ask for another date,_ said one part of his brain out of irritated reflex. A retort had already formed itself on his tongue, ready to be fired off.

"Do you know when his birthday was?"

The retort died in that very instant. Of course he knew the "him" she referred to. There was only one. The question made him take pause. "...No," he admitted finally.

"It's just, we were together as a team for months, and I suddenly realized that in all that time, I didn't know. The only time I saw it was on the," she swallowed hard, "on the gravestone. I never _knew._ I never _asked._ And now I don't even remember what the date was."

"I think it was in October," said Sasuke. He hated to admit it, but he didn't remember either. He'd been focusing on so many other things that the simple date he'd seen was only a vague memory. He looked at Sakura again, noted how her face looked particularly pale today, the abnormally messy state of her hair, and the dark circles beginning to form under her reddened eyes.

"I had a nightmare the last two nights," she continued, her eyes focused on the ground. "I... I saw Naruto."

He kept looking at her, giving her a wordless signal to continue. "I saw him walking down the street and I tried to catch him, but then he was gone. And then I saw the... _the fire._ I tried to reach him, I _tried._ But these things in the smoke held me back." Her breathing became ragged. "I saw him catch fire in his sleep, and there was screaming and bones and then the building came down. I couldn't save him Sasuke, I couldn't. I couldn't even do _anything._ "

Sasuke stared at her long and hard, perhaps more than he'd ever done since they'd met in the academy. He'd always thought of her as an annoying pest, and rather useless in combat.

But despite those things, he knew that she was intelligent, if her exam scores were anything to go by. And she'd shown herself in Wave to be a natural at chakra control. She was certainly better at it than him, though that was something he accepted grudgingly. Those were the basic qualities given for genjutsu users. But there was a third that most didn't consider: Imagination.

His father had explained it to him once. While the first two qualities were certainly required for skill in the art of illusion, even with the Sharingan, imagination was also necessary in order to excel. Genjutsu was the art of creating what wasn't real, horrifying or calming, and in detail. It involved creating not only what _did_ exist, but what _could_ and sometimes things that _couldn't_. Without an imaginative mind, genjutsu was limited in its effectiveness. But such qualities had a drawback, his father had said. Such an imagination also lent itself to the users suffering more vivid and horrible nightmares.

Looking at Sakura now, he knew she had that sort of imagination. She hadn't even seen Naruto die, but her mind had conjured its own horrific demons to plague her in her sleep.

And when he looked at her now, he saw himself. After his family died, he had nightmares like that for weeks, screaming himself awake night after night after night. How many of those times had he thought those same words? _I couldn't save them, I couldn't do anything._ He still had them on occasion, on dark and lonely nights or on the anniversary of the massacre.

And now Sakura had that same haunted look in her eyes that he saw in the mirror after each of those nights. It was the look of someone seeing terrors so great it made you almost afraid to sleep in the first place. Her demons weren't rooted in reality like his, but looking at her face, he couldn't deny that they were no less real and no less frightening, not to her.

Despite this flash of understanding, it still came as a surprise to both of them when he, in a moment of pure impulse, walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know," he whispered.

"H-How do you know?" She was looking at him with curiosity and horror, like she both wanted, and yet, dreaded to know how he could possibly know what she was feeling.

"My family..." he whispered. He never wanted to open up to anyone, especially _her._ But right now, he felt himself compelled to answer her questioning gaze. He'd gone this far anyway. "I lost them."

Sakura nodded her head. She had heard about that of course. It was impossible not to, even _if_ you lived under a rock.

"My..." He swallowed, letting the words come the way they wanted to. "My brother killed them. All of them. I saw him kill my parents."

Sakura's hand flew to her mouth. Even if everyone knew the Uchiha's had died, no one really wanted to publicize the exact cause of death. Why would they? So it came as no surprise that Sakura didn't know about that fact. The same was probably true of all the other fangirls that chased him.

Sakura's eyes were wide and brimming anew with tears despite their already reddened state. "Sasuke, I'm so sorry."

"I don't need your pity," he spat reflexively. Sakura flinched at the words, and he felt a twinge of guilt.

"No one should have to go through that," replied Sakura. "And I'm sorry that you did." She paused, focusing back on the ground. "Do they ever go away?" she said softly. Sasuke could hear the pleading undertone.

"Mostly," he admitted. Telling her anything less would have been an injustice she didn't deserve.

They sat there in silence again, but it was a quieter, less suffocating sort of silence. Finally, Sakura spoke again. "I...I've been a pain, haven't I? I've been a complete weakling so far." She let out a hollow laugh that sounded wrong coming out of her mouth. "You know, Naruto once told me that he thought I would be a great ninja. He really believed that."

"When did he tell you that?"

"There were a couple nights while we were in Wave where I couldn't sleep. I ended up talking to Naruto." She looked up at the sky. "I wish I could go back to that."

She took a deep breath, and looked back at him. "But you know, I'd like to prove him right."

"An excellent goal Sakura."

Both genin turned to see their teacher appearing in a whirl of leaves, crouched down on a rock. "Yo," he said with a wave.

"Kakashi-sensei!" said Sakura. "You're..." she checked her watch, "You're only fifteen minutes late." She tilted her head, as if the world were off balance. Sasuke supposed that it was.

Kakashi just shrugged as he got down off the rock. "I figured today was a day to be more on time." He cleared his throat. "I know things have been rough with Naruto's passing. And as you may have figured, Team Seven won't be able to be in the Chunin Exams this year without a third member. There are also no free genin available, and besides, we couldn't just stick any random genin on the team at this point."

"Kakashi-sensei, does that mean Team Seven is disbanded?" asked Sakura.

"Not in the least. Our mission options may be limited, but just because we're not a full team and we can't enter into the exams doesn't mean I can't train you."

"You don't train us much anyway," muttered Sasuke.

Kakashi turned to him. "You're unfortunately right."

"I am?"

"He is?"

"Yes," admitted Kakashi. "I've realized I've been rather lax when it came to training you as a team. Sakura, in particular I was neglecting your training in favor of Sasuke. For that, I'm sorry. But we still have another chance. So, are you two willing to start right now?"

The two looked at each other, then back to Kakashi, and nodded.

"Good. Sasuke, the two of us are going to spar. Sakura, I want you to do some laps around the training ground."

Sakura glared at her teacher. "Why aren't you sparring with me?" she said in disappointment.

"It's not that I'm neglecting you Sakura," said Kakashi. He ran his fingers through his silver hair. "You're a very bright girl, but you lack combat experience. That's why you were put on this team originally. You have excellent chakra control, but your biggest problem right now is that your chakra reserves are very low. The best thing for you to start with is building those up."

He turned to Sasuke. "And Sasuke, I know you use the Uchiha family taijutsu style, and you're quite good at it, but it does have a few weaker points. I'd like you to practice more on the Academy style. We'll see about working on those holes in your defense. Is that understood?"

Sasuke nodded. He'd never considered his family's style to have any weak points, but Kakashi didn't seem to be joking around. And if it did have some weak points, then it was in Sasuke's benefit to try and close them.

Sakura meanwhile, stood in awe at the seriousness their teacher had adopted. With a nod of her own head, she took off around the training ground.

As Sasuke and Kakashi starting sparring, Sasuke couldn't help but notice the determination on his teammate's face, and how fast she ran.

* * *

"Are we almost done here Junpei? I want to get back home before noon."

"Almost Satoshi. Just a few more specimens. I'm fairly certain they should be around here."

"I still can't believe you're having us go this far into the woods. The walk back will take forever with the stuff we have now."

"Quit complaining. The more specimens we bring back, the more Mrs. Yamanaka will pay us."

The other boy scoffed. "Just admit the real reason you're having us collect these things is to impress Ino."

Junpei only blushed as he and his friend continued their trek through the woods. Junpei was tall for his age, but thin, with dark hair and glasses. His friend Satoshi was only a bit shorter, but was more muscular in build, with wild purple hair.

They were in the forest around Konoha, collecting wildflowers for the Yamanaka Flower Shop. A few days ago, Mrs. Yamanaka had mentioned something about the many wild species that she wished she could cultivate in the village.

After some research, Junpei realized that he's seen many of the plants she'd spoken of. He'd spotted them on the many occasions where he'd accompanied his father on his merchant caravan, either passing them by or deep in the woods when they'd had to stop not too far into the journey from Konoha.

He told Mrs. Yamanaka about this of course, and volunteered to collect them. Flattered, the woman had offered a generous reward for each one he could find and bring back.

But the words of his best friend did ring true. From the first time he saw her at the age of six, Junpei had been madly infatuated with the Yamanaka heir. He thought she was the prettiest girl in the whole village. He'd talked to her a few times, with a tongue wrapped in a Gordian knot.

But of course, he wasn't a ninja, he had no aspiration to be whatsoever. And Ino only had eyes for Sasuke, along with most of the girls in the ninja academy, and the village for that matter. Sasuke's dislike among his peers was as much from his seeming arrogance as it was from the way he unintentionally drew the attention of 99% of the female population. Added onto that was how he didn't even return that attention or try to dissuade them.

But Junpei thought that, just _maybe,_ getting these wildflowers to make Ino's mom happy, and perhaps Ino herself, would be the first step in the right direction. So here he was, dragging in his best friend to help him.

So far, the trip had been very productive. They'd already collected specimens of the vast majority of the list he'd compiled. As they walked into a clearing, Junpei spotted another one of the flowers on his list. "There's another," he pointed in its direction. And another over there. You take that one and I'll take this one. And be careful with the roots."

"Yeah I know. Quit harping on that."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to get this done. If you hadn't damaged the roots of those three other flowers, we would have been done sooner. It's not like pulling out weeds."

"Why do we even need to be all the way out here for these things?"

"Because they're _wildflowers_ Satoshi. They don't grow in the village."

Junpei dug into the soil of the plant, carefully freeing it from the dirt to transfer it into a pot. As he was patting the dirt down, he noticed something odd. Or rather, he noticed a distinct _lack_ of something.

"Hey Satoshi, do you hear that?"

The other boy looked up, puzzled. "Hear what?"

"Exactly." The forest around them was quiet, very, _very_ quiet. Straining his ears, Junpei couldn't hear the sound of a single animal, not even the chirps of insects. "It's like all the animals just... _left._ "

Satoshi was getting up, wiping his hands on his pants. "Maybe we just scared them off?"

Junpei narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. "But we didn't before."

It was at this point that Junpei remembered the stories his grandfather would tell about these woods. "They're haunted, Junpei my boy," he'd say, a smile on his wrinkled face. "They're haunted by the spirits left from all the wars, the restless dead who don't even know the battle is over. When the moon's high in the sky, and the wind blows just right, you can still hear the clash of their weapons."

Of course he hadn't actually _believed_ him. And it was daylight anyway. But standing there, Junpei felt a chill run down his spine at the silence that was quickly becoming oppressive.

After all, sound was movement. Sound was _life._ So why were all of the animals, all those things that lived and breathed, suddenly gone?

 _Maybe something scared them all away. Something other than us._

Suddenly there was a sound, a snap of a twig and a rustle of leaves. "Hello?" called out Junpei. "Is anyone there?" When no answer came, Junpei turned to his friend. "This isn't one of your pranks, is it?"

"What? No way man. But I am seriously getting the creeps here. Hey, did you see that?"

Junpei looked where Satoshi was pointing. "What?"

"I thought I saw something move over there, maybe up the tree."

The bespectacled boy craned his head upwards. He thought he saw something high up and hidden in the branches. But he couldn't be totally sure. He could barely make out a bit of movement before whatever it was disappeared into the thick canopy of the immeasurably tall trees.

The chill returned, and beside him, Satoshi was starting to sweat. "Let's get out of here," the other boy suggested.

Junpei just nodded. The two boys gathered up the plants and their gear before heading out of the forest, away from the silence as quickly as possible.

Back in the clearing, there was another rustle of leaves.

* * *

Author's Note:For those that ask, I am well aware through my research that Guy's name was changed to "Might Guy". Personally though, "Might Guy" just sounds strange to my ears, and my brain keeps thinking it should be "Mighty Guy" to sound more grammatically correct in English, which was how it was first translated. Ultimately I settled on Maito since that seemed more like a first name. Forgive my little indulgence.


	4. The Hunt Begins! The Mystery in the Fore

Author's Note: And here is chapter 4. I feel kind of awkward putting this up the day after I posted chapter 3 with a warning about how this isn't my usual pace, but I still had partially drafted scenes for this and I was on a roll so far. Still, I meant what I said. This is rather abnormal for me, and I really don't want you guys to get the wrong idea about how fast I work.

Seriously, thank you all for the support. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope you keep enjoying it. And thank you for the review Phildev. Looks like you got what you wanted. XD And for anyone reading this, I'd also like to encourage you to check out the Sailor Moon fanfics I written up, as I put a great deal of effort into those too, if you're interested in the fandom that is.

As a side note, I had trouble figuring out what to name this chapter originally. I was rather torn on what to use that would really work. But a friend of mine suggested I use this title. It was a bit different than my usual choices, but she pointed out how it sounded like the title of an anime episode, so it fit rather well.

On with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters within it. I am just a fan writing out a rather old idea.

Chapter 4: The Hunt Begins! The Mystery in the Forest

It was December 3rd when Team Seven found itself at the Mission Assignment Desk again. Sakura looked out at the autumn colored leaves dancing in the cool wind, and wished she could join them. The office was stuffy today, no doubt to compensate for the mild chill of the still oncoming Konoha winter, and the Hokage was taking his time with some paperwork from the previous team before speaking to them.

When he looked up and saw them standing there, he smiled. "Ah, Kakashi. Here for another mission?" The Hokage always seemed to have a pained look in his eyes when their team visited him, one he hid behind his smiles. The same was true for Iruka-sensei, who usually sat beside him, though today he was absent. Sakura knew why.

 _Naruto..._

She shook herself free of those thoughts. She couldn't allow herself to get depressed now. They were here for a new mission.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said with a smile behind his mask. "My team was wondering if there was anything available."

Sakura wondered if it they'd end up with a C-rank again. With their team down a member, their options were limited. At first they only took D-rank missions. They were still important to Sakura, since even basic labor helped to build her chakra reserves. And of course it was good to just get paid.

Eventually though, they'd managed to talk the Hokage into giving them C-rank missions. They'd argued that with Kakashi's skills, they'd still be capable enough to handle those, and eventually he'd obliged. They needed the experience. _She_ needed the experience.

Thankfully, the C-rank missions they'd gotten were actual C-rank missions, unlike what happened in Wave. For all the boredom Sakura felt at times from their limited choices, she never dared to wish for another B-rank again, not when she knew they weren't ready for it. They'd barely survived Wave and they'd had a full team for that.

But they hadn't had a C-rank mission in just over two months. And despite Kakashi keeping his promise to train them better, they were getting bored again. They'd been sent on so many D-ranks lately that Sakura's wallet was practically bursting.

"Hmm," replied the Third Hokage, "Let's see..." He put his usual pipe in his mouth and exhaled as he began to look over the documents on his desk.

Sakura's eyes just lingered on the smoke, and her arms and legs began twitching involuntarily. After many more nights of the same hellish dream, and even some variations of it, Sakura had developed a twitch reaction to smoke or fire. She'd stopped going near grills because of the strong smoke in the air, and had to avoid looking at campfires too long on some of their missions. Even candles tended to cause her some form of distraction.

She made no secret of it to her team. When Sasuke had noticed the way she went into a sort of daze at the sight of large open flames, he started practicing his family's jutsu away from her. She was working on stopping it, but it was a slow process.

The Third Hokage knew about it too, and tried his best not to set it off. The older man had barely started smoking before he paused from reading to look up at Sakura. He took the pipe out of his mouth, looking at it in disappointment, before setting it down and offering Sakura an embarrassed smile in apology. "Hmm, there's a request for grocery shopping."

"Lord Hokage, sir," she said politely, pulling her focus away from the dissipating smoke rings, "are you sure there isn't anything else?" Beside her, Sasuke was frowning. He was as bored as she was.

"Now, now, Sakura, C-ranks don't just fall out of the sky," said Kakashi. "Well, except for that one client..."

"Please," said Sasuke, cutting in, "We've had enough D-ranks lately."

The Hokage didn't seem to take offense to the request. He was about to answer, when a jonin came barging into the office. "Lord Hokage, I'm sorry to interrupt, but did you want a team to investigate those reports? I have a list of candidates for a squad."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Reports?"

The Hokage nodded at the copy ninja before he threw an irritated glance at the messenger, and then a longing one at his pipe. "Yes. For several months we've been getting reports of something odd in the forest outside the village to the north. Items disappearing, strange sounds..."

"And most recently, some strange sightings," cut in the rather excitable jonin.

The Hokage shot the man a look of disapproval before he continued. "The sightings all differ, and rumors have started forming. Some of the villagers are claiming it's the work of a ghost, others say there's some sort of creature. Normally I would pass it off as nothing, but the frequency has me concerned."

Something in the woods? It all sounded very mysterious to Sakura, like something out of one of the books in the library. But the ninja part of her was more concerned. The reports were just outside the village. If there was something out there, it was close to her home. Suddenly, Sakura had a flash of inspiration. "Lord Hokage, why don't you send us out there?"

The Hokage looked reluctant. "If there is something out there, it could be very dangerous."

"We'll have Kakashi-sensei with us," added in Sasuke, catching on to her idea. "And if the reports are so conflicting, then it could easily be nothing."

"And besides," said Sakura, "It would save you the trouble of sending out the higher rank ninja and pulling them away from other work."

The old man leaned back in his chair, fingers folded in front of his face. "I suppose it would be alright. But stick to reconnaissance. If it is dangerous, I'd like you to avoid confrontation unless necessary, even with Kakashi's skills. And it wouldn't count as an official paid mission, since there is no client in this case and it could be nothing."

Kakashi just chuckled, ruffling the hair of his two students, much to their combined annoyance. "I'm sure that will suit my team just fine."

The Third Hokage nodded before turning to the jonin. "See that they get copies of all the related reports right away."

The man looked disappointed, no doubt because the job had been handed off. Perhaps he had the same case of boredom as them. It made Sakura feel a little sorry for him. "Yes sir."

Team Seven took their leave of the office after that. As they exited, Sakura heard the Hokage exhale from his pipe again. After the door closed, Kakashi turned to them.

"Alright you two, I want you to meet me at the gates in two hours. Understood?"

Both of them nodded, and with that, Kakashi vanished in a whirl of leaves.

"Nice job getting us out of a D-rank," said Sasuke as they walked down the halls.

Her cheek were tinged the lightest shade of pink. "Thanks."

"It could be nothing though."

Sakura just shrugged. "It still gives us something else to do."

Once outside, the two parted ways to their individual homes. As Sakura walked through the streets, she started making a mental list of things to pack, and where they were in the house. Hopefully some of them wouldn't need too much dusting. In between sorting out her list, she let her mind wander back to their objective.

 _I wonder if there really is something out there. An animal? A person? A bandit?_

Before long, she reached her house and unlocked the door. Sakura greeted her parents quickly before heading right to her room to pack. Any idle speculation she had was pushed right out of her mind. Pulling out her traveling pack, she smiled a little. At least today wouldn't be dull.

* * *

A couple hours later, Team Seven assembled at the village gate. Kakashi had the reports in hand, and was looking them over as they began to walk to the north side of the village.

It was peaceful as they traveled down the path, fallen leaves crunching under their shoes. They passed by various trees that were empty of nests. The birds had already migrated to avoid the, admittedly, mild chill. Maybe they'd even get snow this year. Snow rarely happened around the village, and when it did, it never seemed to be all that much, to the disappointment of many children, and a few adults she knew as well.

Despite the lack of songbirds, the scenery was still beautiful to look at. It was almost enough to make Sakura think of this as a simple hike and not a search for some mysterious person or thing hiding in the woods around her home. After a while more of walking, Kakashi came to a sudden stop.

"Why did we stop?" asked Sasuke.

"This is one of the locations in the reports. Here."

He handed a copy of the incident report to Sasuke and Sakura, and they scanned it slowly. It detailed how a month ago, a merchant caravan on the way to the village had lost several crates of food during the night. They thought they had seen some kind of boot print in the dirt, but a rainstorm that night had distorted it far too much to be sure. They also reported that their horses had seemed uneasy that night as well.

"Look around and see if you can find any other traces that might have been missed. It's a long shot with how much time as passed, but I'd rather be thorough."

The two nodded and split to examine the surrounding patches of forest. The natural cover was thicker on the right side of the road, and Sakura knew that if someone had been hiding there, waiting for night to fall, they probably would have hidden there. Though Sakura had to wonder, had the thief anticipated the rain? It seemed like a lucky coincidence that whatever footprints might have been left were conveniently erased by the weather.

But despite searching the woods for twenty feet beyond the road, Sakura couldn't find a single indication of a person being there. Not a single discernable footprint or stray item, not even a scrap of fiber. Sasuke and Kakashi also came back empty handed.

They moved off the roads and into the forest proper, eyes and ears open for signs of anything strange. Sunlight was interspersed with the shadows of the titanic trees. Now the mission was feeling more like a hunt. Part of Sakura started to wish she knew what they were hunting, but then, that was the point of the mission.

They roamed the woods for an hour, changing directions several times. The only animal life they found consisted of a bunny and other assorted small creatures. Finally, the trees fell away to reveal a clearing.

"Alright, I think it's time we took a break," said Kakashi.

Sakura dropped her pack before sitting herself down on the bright green grass.

"So far we haven't spotted a thing. I'm beginning to think there's nothing out here" said Sasuke, taking a sip from his water bottle.

Kakashi just nodded, sweat dripping off his face. "I suppose that's one disadvantage to Konoha's geography. In this case, if there _is_ something out here, it's using the density of the forest to its advantage as much as the village is."

Sakura took a long sip from her own water bottle, wiping sweat from her broad forehead. Kakashi was right. With how thick the woods were around here, it would be extremely difficult to find anything. Sakura wasn't even sure if any other team the Hokage had originally wanted to send for this would have had better luck. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," she admitted.

"Or a needle in a bunch of haystacks put together," added Sasuke with mild annoyance.

Sakura just nodded. But she knew there just had to be a way to narrow this down. Suddenly, an idea struck her. "Kakashi-sensei, could I have the map and the reports?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but complied. Nearby, Sasuke was looking at her with interest.

Sakura unfolded the map on the grass and set the list of reports beside it. Taking out a pencil, she found the spot on the road they'd examined earlier. "Here's where we were before," she muttered, marking it with an X. Her green eyes scanned the list of occurrences, and with every location, she marked it on the map. "This one was here. This was over here..."

After a few minutes, she finally got through all of the reports, and looked back over the map as a whole. "That's interesting," she said.

"What is?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura's mind raced with excitement as she looked back at her teammates. "Take a look. The sightings are scattered, but they're not random. They're all spread out around a general area." She pointed back at the map. The Xs she'd marked had formed a rough circle. "If all these sightings are of the same thing, then whatever it is, it's being spotted in places that are mostly equidistant in diameter.

"It's very likely that it lives at the center of this circle, this small mountain, or at least close to it. And these sightings that are further away don't exceed the average by all that much. That would be consistent with something or someone not wanting to wander too far from home base or make the return trip too long, particularly if assume they're moving on foot."

Her sensei looked the map over. "Very good Sakura," he answered finally. Sakura saw the shift in the fabric of his mask, and knew by now that he was smiling.

She blushed at the praise. "Thank you sensei." In truth it was an idea from a murder mystery she'd read at the library, part of a trick the protagonist used to narrow down the home of a dangerous serial killer in a vast city. There had been more to it in the book of course, but it still worked here. "But I'm still not sure where we are compared to the mountain." There were so many small peaks littered through the forest, and she'd lost track of where they were exactly.

Sasuke took the map, and looked around, doing some mental calculations. "I think this is the clearing we're in." He pointed at a blank space on the map. "So the mountain should be that one over there," he gestured to the small peak to the east of them.

As the team picked up their gear and set out again, Sakura still felt that rush of excitement running through her. They had a lead now, and she'd given it to them! It was enough to make her want to smile, and smile she did. This was turning into a real hunt now. Sakura pushed herself to be even with her teammates as they continued on through the trees.

But another part of her brain reminded her that if there was something here, it could be dangerous. The Hokage's warnings flashed through her mind. It was true that the reports didn't point towards something violent. But on the other hand, there hadn't been any real confrontation.

Those thoughts tempered her excitement, and made her move a hand near her kunai holster. But Sakura was sure that no matter what it was, if it even existed, complete Team Seven or not, that they'd be ready for it. All of them.

* * *

As they got closer toward the small peak, the forest got thicker, the trees pulling closer together. The sounds of animal life that had peppered their travels so far faded away into nothing. It reminded Sakura of the incident report from May, and it set her on edge even further. Her hand pushed even closer to her kunai.

Apparently Kakashi had noticed it as well. He too put a hand to his kunai holster. "I want you two to be very careful. The fact that we found a pattern means the chances something is out here just skyrocketed. So be on your guard."

"Understood," said Sasuke.

Sakura just nodded, looking around at the massive trees. She slipped her finger around the metal ring of her kunai, keeping it in front of her. When they finally reached the mountain, Kakashi had them split up to do a sweep of its perimeter. "Stay in radio contact," he told them.

As she walked around the west side of the mountain, Sakura spotted something sticking out of a bush. Picking it up, it looked like fragments of wood, printed wood at that. "Sakura here, I think I found the remains of a crate."

"Probably one of the ones stolen from the merchants. We're definitely in the right place" responded Kakashi. "Sasuke, report."

"I think I found something," came the crackled reply over the radio. "Come meet me over here."

When Sakura found Sasuke on the east side, he was standing in front of a cave hewn into the side of the mountain. The entrance was partially hidden by a bunch of thick bushes.

"Good work Sasuke," praised Kakashi. "You two stay behind me."

The cave was pitch dark, but all of them had packed flashlights. Not far beyond the mouth, they saw the remains of a campfire. Someone had definitely been here. From the smell and faint heat, it was clear that whoever it was had been here recently.

As the rest of the team moved a little further ahead, Sakura noticed a small recess in the cave wall. It looked like there was something hidden there. Crouching down, she aimed her flashlight, and the beam reflected back at her. She reached out her hand, finally getting a grip on whatever the occupant of this place had hidden. As she pulled it out, she turned her flashlight on it to get a better look.

The next thing she knew, she was letting out a scream, and Sasuke and Kakashi had turned back to her.

"What is it?" asked Sasuke.

"L-Look," was all Sakura could say, her green eyes locked on the item. In her trembling hands, she held a jacket. But this wasn't just any jacket. It was an orange jacket with a red swirl mark on the back. She'd seen it so many times in her memories, in the photo she left beside her bed.

"That's..." Sasuke began.

"Naruto's..." Sakura finished. It wasn't just the design. She'd seen that style in stores before. But Naruto was the only one she'd known to wear it in a shade of orange. A look at the jacket's inside tag confirmed her fears. His name was there, written in the sloppy writing that Sakura knew belonged to her former teammate. As she fingered the material, she noticed the blackened edges. _Fire damage._

Kakashi had bent down to the recess and pulled out something else. As he stood back up and showed them, Sakura's heart plummeted further. It was a Leaf Village forehead protector, one blackened by fire and covered in soot, just like the jacket.

The metal even had a dot of corrosion in the upper right corner, the same one Naruto's headband got during that mission helping out a local chemist. Naruto had been upset about it for the rest of the day, at least until she'd pointed out how lucky it was the chemicals didn't get on his face, and yelled at him for being so clumsy in the first place.

Sakura's mind was racing. They hadn't found any trace of these in the ruins of the building. They'd never even found a body. How had these ended up here?

"If these had stayed in the fire the whole time," said Sasuke slowly, wheels turning in his head, "they would have been reduced to ashes."

"And yet here they are, deep in the woods," added Kakashi, suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Naruto never would have willingly parted with his forehead protector," replied Sasuke as he touched the aforementioned item.

Sakura nodded. It was something they all knew for a fact, despite their short time knowing the blonde boy. But the question still remained: How did these items get here?

"What if it wasn't an accident?" said Sasuke suddenly.

Sakura turned to look at him, still not processing the question. "What?"

"What if the fire hadn't been an accident? The fire brigade never did figure out what started it."

As she let it sink in, the idea filled Sakura with dread, tearing open the wound she'd been trying to heal for months. She heard the unspoken part of the words.

 _What if Naruto had been murdered?_

It would explain why his things were here, burned but not completely destroyed. And as for why, Sakura's mind just flashed back to the mob at the funeral. Though she didn't quite understand it, she knew Naruto was disliked. But had someone hated him enough to kill him? Could someone have murdered him and taken these as some sort of trophy? The thought made her both sick to her stomach, and caused her fists to tighten in growing rage.

Kakashi's one eye was narrowed, his body stiff. "We'll find out" he said with gritted teeth. "Whoever's been here is bound to come back. And..." stopped, turning his head back toward the mouth of the cave. "I'm sensing a chakra signature. You two stick close to me."

Kakashi took the burned items, placing them in his pack quickly, before making a hand sign. Sakura recognized it as one for genjutsu. "Camouflage Jutsu" he said.

Sakura felt a wave of chakra pass over her. She turned to her sensei for explanation. "It's a genjutsu designed to camouflage a person or a group, making them blend in to their surroundings. Just hold perfectly still and don't make a sound."

A camouflage jutsu? The idea was absolutely fascinating, and the academic part of her brain was itching to ask more questions. She wondered if this was something Kakashi had learned, or if he'd copied it. He very well could have copied it from Kurenai-sensei. She was the genjutsu expert among the jonin instructors.

Within a minute, there was a sound at the entrance. Sakura strained her still adjusting eyes in the darkness. There, walking towards them, was a small figure. They looked shorter perhaps than even Sakura herself. She couldn't make out any other real features though. Suddenly, he, or Sakura presumed so for now, stopped dead in his tracks, looking around the cave ever so slowly.

Had they been spotted? She didn't see how. Kakashi-sensei was no slouch with genjutsu, even if he wasn't at Kurenai-sensei's level. Sakura felt a twinge of irritation as she remembered her own horrible firsthand experience with her teacher's illusion skills. Looking over at him, she could see the uncertainty and surprise on the exposed parts of his face.

In a flash of movement, the stranger grabbed a rock and hurled it at them. Kakashi dropped the genjutsu as they all dodged, the rock almost hitting their teacher in the face. Before they could do anything else, the stranger had dashed out of the cave.

Kakashi didn't even need to give an order. In that moment, the Hokage's words of non-confrontation faded away. In complete unison, the members of Team Seven gave chase.

Now, the hunt was truly on.

* * *

Whoever he was, he was fast. Despite his size and short strides, he had already managed to dash far ahead of his pursuers. Kakashi bolted forward, coming up on the stranger's right. He threw out a punch. The stranger ducked under it, shoving an elbow into Kakashi's abdomen.

The copy ninja disappeared in a burst of smoke, a log taking his place. The real Kakashi came rushing at the left. The stranger turned his body towards the incoming jonin the very second the log came into being, which surprised Kakashi. Right before Kakashi could land the blow, the stranger jumped above his swinging arm, grabbing a tree branch and swinging around it in a 360.

By the time Kakashi's brain caught up, the stranger's feet slammed into his back, the double kick aided by his own momentum. Kakashi stumbled wildly from the hit, and another elbow slam to the back followed. The jonin was sent into a roll down a small hill and right into a shallow pond.

"Are you alright Kakashi-sensei?" called out Sakura as the stranger dashed onwards through the forest.

"I'm fine," he answered, spitting out pond water. "Just winded. Keep going!"

Kakashi watched his students rush forward, and stood up, clearing the muck off his face and lowering his mask to spit out more pond water as he reoriented himself from the blow. Whoever he was, he was agile, that was for sure, something Kakashi hadn't expected. His response time to the Substitution Jutsu was equally impressive. So was his leg strength. Kakashi knew from the aching in his back that he was going to have significant bruises there.

But he couldn't let that stop him. Thoughts of his old sensei floated in front of his eyes, and remembered the burned items in his pack, feeling several times heavier to him then they truly were. Drawing a deep breath, he launched himself back into the chase. He ran for his students. For his sensei. For Kushina. For Naruto.

He failed once. And he wouldn't fail again.

* * *

Sasuke charged through the dense forest, hot on the trail of the stranger after his sensei had stumbled down the hill. The stranger's dark shape was just in view. He navigated between the trees with the grace of an expert.

"We need to catch up to him or we'll lose him at this rate," huffed Sakura.

"No we won't," growled Sasuke. His dark eyes were locked on their quarry. No matter how much he might have disliked Naruto back when he was alive, Sasuke had never seriously wished for his death, and certainly not for a burning building to drop on him. Even that idiot didn't deserve that. Not even any of those fangirls deserved that.

But now, it appeared that might not have been the case. His teammate may well have been murdered by this retreating figure, robbed of his life while his corpse was allowed to burn. And Naruto didn't deserve that either.

In place of the retreating stranger's dark shape, Sasuke momentarily saw someone else, someone taller and more familiar. The boy's eyes narrowed in cold determination. If there was one thing he stood for, other than his desire to avenge his family, it was this: He wouldn't allow a murderer, even a potential one, to get away. Not if he could help it. Not _again._

Sasuke pushed himself forward. He saw the stranger tilt his head in response to Sasuke's approach. Suddenly, a cloud of dirt and rock kicked up behind him. How, Sasuke didn't know, since he didn't see them kick the ground, and they hadn't turned around, but he leapt high to avoid it anyway.

The stranger took the chance to change direction, running off to the right into an even thicker patch of trees, slipping between them in seconds.

Sasuke and Sakura followed close behind, having a harder time moving over the uneven stone and protruding roots. When the trees finally opened up more, their quarry was gone.

"Where did he go?!" Sasuke growled.

"I'm not sure," huffed Sakura, trying to catch her breath. "This is like trying to catch Tora on steroids. A boatload of steroids."

Sasuke couldn't argue with the comparison, but let out another growl of frustration at losing their target. But then, thinking of that stupid, smothered cat gave Sasuke an idea. He scanned the ground, searching for any sort of tracks, but found nothing. He quickly turned his attention to the trees.

Sure enough, there was a faint trace of mud on the bark of a broad, tall tree, in the faintest shape of a boot. He smirked.

"What is it?" asked Sakura.

He glanced upwards without a word, drawing out several shuriken. He tossed them up at the branches, and the stranger's dark shape came shooting out from the high branches.

Sasuke raced after him, Sakura hot on his tail. The stranger was still leaping between branches, sometimes making leaps and pushing himself off tree trunks. Sasuke threw a kunai, but the stranger just dodged it.

Sasuke knew he needed to force him to the ground. The forest was vast and this chase was already hard enough with the stranger's speed and almost acrobatic skill through the terrain without adding a vertical direction. When the stranger tried climbing to higher branches, Sasuke let loose another kunai as a deterrent.

Arming himself with another handful of shuriken, Sasuke readied himself. He watched the stranger's movements, and, anticipating the next branch he would use, he sent his weapons flying, slicing the branch and sending the stranger back to the ground.

Unfortunately, he managed to land on his feet and keep running, but Sasuke had succeeded in bringing the hunt back down to ground level.

Sasuke kept running, looking at the terrain ahead and readying his next move. He gathered up his chakra and put on another burst of speed, despite his legs beginning to ache with the effort. Making the required hand signs, he took a deep breath. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

He let out the flames in a stream, not at the stranger, but at the path ahead. He cut down the usual amount of chakra this time, unwilling to risk a full on forest fire in the dense flora.

As he'd hoped, the stranger made a sharp turn left when faced with the flames, headed for a large upturned root.

"Now Sakura!" he called out.

He knew Sakura was behind him. He knew she'd probably caught on when he missed so easily. Now if she could just focus long enough to do what he was hoping she'd do.

* * *

Sakura's lungs were burning as she followed Sasuke deeper into the woods. She'd spent months trying to build her chakra reserves and general stamina in various ways, but this chase was taxing what improvements she'd made. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up before dropping.

 _If we stop then they'll get away!_ screamed Inner Sakura. That burst of anger and adrenaline kept her going.

She saw Sasuke launch his fireball jutsu, and a part of her brain admired the increased control he'd gotten since she first saw him use it. But the louder part of her just froze, the glow and roar of the fire bringing back a stream of images.

 _Tower of fire. So large. A monster of flames lashing out with burning teeth, devouring the lesser buildings around it. Screaming, more screaming. Couldn't stop it. Couldn't save him. Useless. Negligent. Uncaring. He was kind to you on those nights. Knew something felt wrong. Could have checked on him. Could have stopped it. Charred bones in moonlight and smoke and flames. He died in agony. Nothing left._

"Now Sakura!" The words shook her back to reality. She saw how Sasuke had missed. The stranger was detouring toward the roots. Instantly, she knew what Sasuke was planning. Pulling out a kunai knife, she focused her mind, fighting the way her arms twitched and the flickering dance of the flames, crying out for her attention. She had to focus. She had to. This was her chance.

Her green eyes practically bored holes in the tree as she watched the stranger leap over the root. In that split second, Sakura threw her kunai. The knife hit him dead on, burying itself in the stranger's leg. He let out a cry of pain before falling to the ground in a roll, and colliding with another tree.

Sakura and Sasuke approached the stranger, who was busy pulling the kunai out of his leg. He started to get up, ready to run again, even on wobbling legs.

"Earth Style: Multi Mud Wall!"

Three large walls of earth covered in snarling dog heads shot up around the stranger, cutting off his escape in any direction other than the one from which Team Seven approached. Kakashi appeared behind his students. The stranger just fell back down, practically curled into a ball against one of the earthen barricades.

Sakura took a moment to examine him, now that they were in the light and not moving at high speed. He was still as small as he seemed before. He was dressed in a tattered cloak, worn and stained like a hand-me-down. The hood was pulled far over the face, preventing any visibility. He wore equally dirty gloves and boots, pulled tight and secured with sections of rope, though as to why, Sakura couldn't guess. A long sleeved shirt and a pair of faded pants completed the outfit so that no part of his skin seemed exposed to the elements.

"Alright whoever you are," said Kakashi, his tone cold enough to freeze magma, "It's time you start talking. Who are you?"

"Nobody," was the only answer, slow and tired. The voice sounded young. "I'm nobody. Just leave me alone."

The emptiness of his voice surprised Sakura, but there was something about it that bothered her. But she couldn't figure out what.

"That's not happening," replied Kakashi, his one visible eye glaring with such power that you'd have almost thought it was his Sharingan. "Who are you?"

"Please just leave me alone," whispered the hooded stranger. He remained there, still curled into a ball. A rather pathetic gesture, but he didn't sound like he had any fight left. Again something in the voice bothered her. But what was it? Who was this person, and why did he have Naruto's things?

The way he was dressed, it didn't seem like he was a murderer hiding evidence. His clothing was so worn down it seemed like he was truly living out here. Every part of it had definitely seen better days, from the hood to the edges of the cloak sticking out under him.

"Tell us now!" screamed Sasuke, looking like he was inches away from punching the stranger into oblivion. "Who are you?!"

"Just go away," repeated the stranger.

And then, something in Sakura clicked. A bizarre, but horrifying idea. Pieces fell into place as she heard that voice again, old, nearly forgotten memories of sound coming to the surface. It couldn't be... could it? It was insane, and yet...

As her two teammates argued, Sakura finally spoke up, managing to utter the single word that encapsulated the wild, fantastical idea that had struck her so hard it could have sent her to her knees.

"N-Naruto?"


	5. Lost Soul

Author's Note: Well, I said things would slow down eventually. Thank you all for your continued support. I really appreciate it. Moving on from here, things will unfortunately slow down a bit more as I have even fewer partially drafted scenes and less idea of chapter structure and where I want this to go. But I'll do my best here in between my other works and life in general. And to all those in the U.S., I hope you had a happy Fourth of July.

I also wanted to say that, right before I posted this chapter today, July 5th, 2016, I took the liberty of editing chapters 3 and 4. With chapter 3 I fixed two little typos, and with chapter 4, I not only fixed some typos, but added one sentence I had MEANT to put in there before posting, but forgot. Oops. Guess I was in too much of a rush. I also made a few other little word additions here and there. Nothing really major though.

I made those corrections both on and on the Archive Of Our Own copy. For those that don't know, it has been my habit for a long time to post my work in both those places, and on DA, although as of right now, the DA copy of this story hasn't been posted, but will be in time. And that last sentence will probably be confusing when it is posted. XD

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy chapter 5, and feel free to tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything within it. I am just a fan.

Chapter 5: Lost Soul

The cloaked figure had visibly stiffened. Sakura's teammates turned to her in confusion.

"What?" said Sasuke.

"Sakura..." whispered Kakashi. His face softened. She knew what he was thinking. He'd comforted her enough times over her guilt.

"Just listen, okay" she insisted. Her mind was still spinning at the possibility. "Look at the stitch work right there," she pointed at the crooked line at the edge of the stranger's cloak. "When Naruto sewed his clothes, it looked _exactly_ like that."

"Naruto could sew?" was Sasuke's only reply.

"He said he taught himself. I saw him fixing his jacket when we were in the Land of Waves. Look," she took the jacket Kakashi had been carrying and pointed to the familiar, messy line of stitches on the right sleeve. "See? That's Naruto's handiwork. I saw him finishing that up myself."

"You're insane," said the stranger with sudden, newfound energy. "You think I'm somebody just because of stitches? A-Are you even listening to yourself? That's ridiculous! I-I don't even know who you're talking about!"

A shadow of doubt crept into Sakura's mind. Was she really making sense, or was she just grasping at straws out of guilt? Was she just trying to soothe the nightmares she'd had over and over? Was she just trying to exorcise the pain from the months in which she realized just how _poorly_ she'd treated the boy, and how much she wished she could start over, how her last words to him on this Earth were complaints and insults mere hours before he burned to death?

But for all that the accusation stung, the stranger's voice had _wavered._ He was hiding something, she knew it. She had to press on. Something was there.

"You sound so much like him," she countered. "And you're around his height, given a few months' worth of growth."

"S-So what?!" Now he was pushing his back even further into the wall.

Beside her, Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and Sakura's heart lifted. He was starting to see what she was.

"There's also the way you tensed up when I called you Naruto. That's not exactly the reaction I'd expect from someone who says they don't even know who I'm talking about."

"An excellent observation," praised Kakashi. Now he too was starting to believe it.

The stranger's gloved hand tightened into a fist. "Why don't you just leave me alone already?!"

"Fine" the copy ninja replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How about a deal? We'll leave you alone, _if,_ and only if, you can tell us where you got this jacket and forehead protector." He held out the two burned items in front of him, and Sakura saw the stranger tense up again.

"Ah, judging by your reaction, you appear to recognize them" he said, his voice echoing menace only thinly hidden under a layer of fake mirth. "These items were never recovered from the fire that my student, Naruto Uzumaki died in, and they are most certainly his. And yet, here they are, and barely scorched at that. A real miracle, considering the circumstances."

Kakashi took another step closer, and Sakura took that moment to admire her sensei's intimidation skills. "Of course you could still deny that you're Naruto, but the only other conclusion that I can draw right now, since you recognize these, is that you were somehow involved with that fire. If you keep being uncooperative, I can just bring you to our interrogation unit, and they'll be _far_ less accommodating than us. So it's in your best interest to tell the truth." He leveled a challenging gaze at the stranger. "Well?"

"I..." The tension in the air was palpable as they waited for the response. Finally, he just hit the ground with his fist and muttered something under his breath that Sakura was sure was a curse. His shoulders slumped. "Why did it have to be you guys?"

"Naruto?" she said again. "It is you, isn't it?"

The boy just sighed before getting up, holding onto one of the dog heads for support.

"Naruto, I'm so happy you're alive-" she started, coming up to hug him. But before she could reach him, he stopped her with his hand, holding out her kunai, the tip still covered in his blood.

He turned it around so the handle faced her. "I think this is yours Sakura." His head was still angled so she couldn't see his face, couldn't see anything but a dark void.

She took it back slowly, slipping it into her holster, face falling at the sight of the blood soaked tip. "Naruto..."

But Naruto just walked off without a word. Team Seven trailed behind him. "What do you think you're doing idiot? Where have you been?" growled Sasuke.

"I'm going home," was Naruto's only answer.

Had he meant the side of the mountain? Sakura eyed his limping movements. "But your leg..."

"I told you before, I heal fast. Don't worry about it." Naruto's tone was brisk. He didn't even slow down as he spoke, simply navigating through the dense forest with the same ease he had when they'd chased him.

"Naruto," said Kakashi, "What are you doing out here?"

Now the boy slowed down, just a fraction. "I... wanted to be out here. I like it here. It's quiet."

"Why on Earth would you want to live in the woods?" cried Sakura. "You scared us Naruto. We thought you had died in that fire. All of us searched the whole village for you. All of the other teams and their senseis looked for you. We went to your funeral. Iruka-sensei was there, Teuchi and Ayame were there, the Hokage was there. He gave a eulogy for you. Why did you do that to us?" Did he even realize the hell he'd put her through?

Red hot fury boiled inside of her. Within the confines of her skull, Inner Sakura was screaming to bash the boy over the head. _He doesn't even care! He doesn't care what he did to any of us!_

At that, Naruto came to a full stop. He was silent for several seconds, leaning against a small tree. "You shouldn't have bothered," he said softly. "I wasn't worth it."

Naruto's tone was so empty, so assured of his proclaimed worthlessness, that it smothered the anger inside of her. "How can you say that? You're our teammate Naruto."

"Well I... I wasn't much of a teammate, was I?" he replied shakily. "You guys were right. I was a stupid screw up and I was just making things worse for everybody." He shrugged. "So I just decided to leave."

Sakura's face fell, her anger usurped by confusion. That didn't sound like the blonde ninja she knew. The shakiness of his voice told her that he was lying again, and badly. Naruto never was an especially good liar. Looking at the expressions on her teammate's faces, she knew they were thinking the same thing.

It was Sasuke that spoke next. "What about being Hokage?" It was a good choice, a subject close to the heart that would rattle whatever lies Naruto was trying to tell them.

Naruto stiffed, but just shrugged and walking off again. Sakura noticed that his limp had decreased. "It doesn't matter. It's not happening, not now, not ever."

Sakura just stared at Naruto's retreating back. _What?_ This time, the response sounded totally sincere. _What the hell is going on? Naruto, what happened to you?_

The mountain cave was coming up in the distance. Sakura hadn't even realized in the heat of the chase that they'd gone in a partial circle.

"Naruto," said Kakashi sternly, "Start giving us a straight answer right now. What's going on?"

Naruto stopped again, his gloved hands tightening into shaking fists. A low growl rose from his throat. "Why don't you guys just take a hint?" he spat out at them. "I don't want you here. I don't want to be Hokage anymore, or a ninja. I just want you to leave me alone! So just go away!"

The level of raw, unbridled anger surprised her, surprised all of them, and Sakura took a tiny step back. But she couldn't leave. Something was _wrong_ with Naruto, _very_ wrong. She had to know what it was, if just for her own peace of mind. There would be no walking away from this, not for her. She took a few steps forward. "We're not leaving" she declared. Then her tone softened. "What's wrong Naruto? You can tell us. Please, we're your teammates."

He looked back at them, ever so slightly. His head was still angled so that the darkness of the hood obscured every part of his face. Sakura wanted nothing more than run up next to him and pull it back, but chose to stay where she was. _Why is he even keeping it on now? What's the point?_

"You're really not going to leave, are you?"

"No we're not, you moron," stated Sasuke, his arms crossed over his chest.

Naruto let out a sigh before looking straight ahead again. "Kakashi-sensei... you know what I am, right?"

Now it was Kakashi who was taken by surprise. "Naruto, what...?"

"Yeah, you definitely know. Tell them. Go ahead."

"Tell us what?" asked Sakura. What was going on _now?_ Normally she loved reading mysteries. But this was personal and the amount of mysteries piling up around here was taxing her admittedly limited patience.

Kakashi looked his two students in the eye. "You two are aware of how the village was attacked by the Nine Tailed Fox?"

"You mean that giant monster?" asked Sasuke. "I'd heard of it. But nobody really talks about it."

"Didn't the Fourth Hokage kill it at the cost of his life?" added Sakura. She had been far too young to remember it, not even seven months old. But she had read about it in the Konoha Library after hearing the stories some of the older villagers told in hushed voices. She'd wondered why it wasn't covered in the history classes at the academy. True, it was unpleasant history, but so was any given war, and those were covered well enough. But there wasn't even a sentence fragment about it in the textbooks. Everything they learned regarding it was oral.

And it wasn't like the village _denied_ that it happened at all. It was rather impossible to do that and still explain the large number of deaths in the last decade, remnants of major damage, and the fact that the Fourth Hokage was suddenly dead with the Third Hokage coming out of retirement.

People still didn't talk about it much though, which Sakura thought was fair enough, since who would really want to talk about their experiences during an attack by a giant demon? But the thing was dead. What was the problem with talking about it? That was the sort of thing people wrong songs or poems about.

"Not... exactly" said their teacher. "That's the official story. The truth of the matter is that he was unable to outright kill it. He only managed to seal it inside of someone, a baby born on the same day as the attack."

Naruto just let out a snort. "He means me."

Sakura's eyes went wide as she looked back at Naruto. "Y-You have that horrible _thing_ inside of you?"

"Yeah. The Third made a law stopping people from talking about the attack, or about me." A bitter edge crept into his voice. "I only found out because of Mizuki."

"No wonder you had so much chakra," mumbled Sasuke.

"Just because Naruto has the Nine Tailed Fox in him doesn't mean he is the Nine Tailed Fox," clarified Kakashi. "But, Naruto, as important a revelation as that is, what does that have to do with you living in the woods and pretending to be dead?"

"I tried to warn you," mumbled Naruto. "This is why." Slowly, he held up his left hand and untied the rope around his wrist. He pulled the glove off...

... And all the blood drained from Sakura's face and crashed right down into the soles of her feet like a two hundred pound weight. The sight before her burned itself into Sakura's mind forever.

It wasn't a hand. It _seemed_ sort of like one, but it wasn't. The general shape was there, the five fingers and wrist, but it was covered in crimson fur, each digit ending in long, sharp claws. On the palm side, the skin was rough and dark, like the pads of a paw. Naruto removed the second glove, and the other hand was much the same.

And then he pulled back the hood. And the face wasn't human. It was a fox's face, triangular, with a long, narrow muzzle, a dark, wet looking nose, and two pointed ears in places where no human's would be, covered in the same dark red fur. Naruto's dark blue eyes stared the trio down from within the confines of the vulpine skull.

" _Now_ do you see why I live out here?"

With that, Naruto turned around, walking again towards the cave. Team Seven trailed after him. He sat down on a rock outside the cave, pulling off his boots. His feet were twisted in the same manner as his hands. He winced as he flexed his leg. "Man Sakura, you really dug that thing in deep, didn't you?"

"Sorry," she said automatically, still at a loss for what to say. No, that wasn't it. The problem wasn't that she didn't know what to say as much as she didn't know what to say _first._ There were so many questions vying for position inside her head. Even her inner self was completely at a loss for where to start.

Naruto pulled the cloak free, and slipped the shirt he'd been wearing over his head. His chest was equally covered in the same red coat. A single red tail swung out from behind him. He glanced over at the trio, shifting his position slightly in discomfort. "Could you stop staring?"

Sakura looked away in embarrassment, not sure what else to do, and still stymied on what to say. From the look on Sasuke's face, he seemed to be having the same struggle. But thankfully, Kakashi managed to ask one of the questions that had been bouncing around in her head.

"Naruto, how did you get like this?"

"Not really sure," replied the fox-boy as he rubbed his feet. "I went home, and decided to go to bed early. But then..."

* * *

 _April 24th, 3:48 AM_

 _Naruto woke with a groan. He rolled over, sweat pouring off his face. The moon was still sitting there, high in the sky, looking every bit like a great big, unblinking silver eyeball. A look at his clock told him the early hour._

 _"Why am I so hot?" he muttered. His muscles still ached from the morning, and he coughed, his chest rumbling. Hot, it was so hot. Despite the sweat on his skin, it felt like a colony of angry red ants were biting every single pore at once, an itch even worse than the rash that had covered his whole torso._

 _He tried to get out of bed, but ended up slipping and crashing to the floor below. "What's... wrong... with me?" he asked in between pants._

 _In the fog of lingering drowsiness and heat, it dawned on him that he had a fever. A bad one. He needed help. He needed Kakashi or Iruka, someone, anyone, to take him to the hospital. Something was very wrong with him._

 _Naruto got to his shaking knees, slowly and agonizingly slipping into his usual clothing. Sweat dripped onto the floor as he put on his jacket, too disoriented to realize how counterproductive it might have been to his fever._

 _"Have to find someone," he muttered, trying to focus as he looked for his forehead protector. He dropped it somewhere before he went to sleep. "Where is...UGH!"_

 _Naruto doubled over. His whole body was erupting in pain. Everything hurt. Even his bones were aching, feeling as if it were coming from the very marrow. What was this? Was it still the cold?_

 _He rolled on the floor, writhing in the agony that seemed to pulse through his body. His throat felt constricted, preventing him from screaming. He forced his eyes open, and in the corner of his vision, he saw a flash of red light. What was it? Had... had it come off of him, or was that the fever playing tricks on him? It was so hard to see straight through the tears welling up in his eyes, eyes aching in ways that things not made to sense touch could._

 _The pain pulsed again, sending him rolling even more. Another flicker of red shot past his vision, and then, there was another sound, a kind of crackling. His table and curtains had caught fire. It was spreading so quickly. He had to stop it!_

 _He managed to get himself on all fours. His hands were hurting even more. Why did they hurt so much? He opened his eyes again. His hands, something was wrong with them. The nails were growing into claws, and a coat of red hair was spreading over them. The spike in pain moved to his mouth. He reached out to grab his jaw. It was longer somehow. And the skin of his palms felt hard, like a pair of giant callouses._

 _His whole face was hurting now, and his feet. "What's happening... to... me?" he managed to cry though the pain as his teeth and jaws continued to shift. The base of his spine started to throb. Something had torn. New nerves seemed to come into existence, burning and aching as they grew and changed, sending confusing signals to his brain._

 _The fire had spread all around the room. The smoke was suffocating. In his blurred vision, he saw his headband, sitting there surrounded by fire. Without thinking, he grabbed it, hissing when the flames scorched his hands. He had to get out of here, now. The heat rippled in the air as he searched for an exit. The door? No, the door was locked, the key lost among the flames. The window!_

 _He ran for it, making his way between the burning curtains. The crash of the glass went unheard in the roar of the fire. He leapt, grabbing at the side of a tall neighboring building, pulling himself to the roof, his nails... no, claws, digging into the stones as he climbed onto it. Behind him, the whole apartment building was ablaze, and a crowd had started to gather. But none of them seemed to have noticed his exit from the side._

 _The sounds hit him like a hammer. Loud, everything was so loud. Screams and barking dogs and ringing bells, even music and laughter further away down below, all of it mixing together in his ear canals. The smells too, assaulted him, smoke and garbage and people, so many people. Why didn't it stop? It had to stop. He staggered, clutching his skull, trying to block out some of the cacophony._

 _He couldn't think in the chaos. Instinct took over now, instinct and the fear of what happened. Thoughts were flying wildly though his brain. Monster. He was a monster. He needed to run, needed to hide._

 _Naruto ran to the edge of the roof, making a leap and missing, instead landing on a fire escape below. Someone let out a slurred curse. Down below in an alley, a man was there, fallen flat on his backside and staring up in horror, face red and stinking of alcohol, an empty bottle sitting at his side. The smell burned against Naruto's nose._

 _Naruto didn't have time to worry about him. He leapt back up to the roof, heading north, running and running, despite his body still hurting everywhere and his senses smashing into his brain. He only thought of one thing. Run, run, run, roof to roof, hidden in the shadows, places where the ethereal glow of the full moon didn't touch. He didn't even slow down as he approached the walls of Konoha._

 _He just made a leap and managed to slip over the border wall at a place he knew the sentries were standing far from, too far to see him. His thoughts were too jumbled at that moment to truly grasp how he knew that, too jumbled for his conscious mind to realize the presence of the steady, rhythmic beating in his ears._

 _He just wanted to get away, to hide... hide from the pain, the fire, the smoke, from whatever this was, whatever he was._

 _He just kept running, running all the way into the deep, dark forest, running until his legs finally gave out at the edge of a lake. Crawling towards it, he peered into the moonlit water. Something else looked back at him. Naruto Uzumaki screamed, screamed and cried tears he never let himself shed._

 _The thing in the lake did the same._

* * *

"... After I got out of the building, I ran all the way into the woods. Eventually I found this place. It seemed good for shelter, so I stayed here".

Team Seven had sat down on some of the other rocks as Naruto told them of that night. Silence had fallen around them, along with a chill that hit Sakura right in the heart, and she prayed it didn't give her a new set of nightmares.

Naruto was still rubbing his feet. "My turn to ask questions. Why are you guys out here?"

Sasuke spoke up before her. "The Hokage sent us out here. He'd been getting reports of something possibly living out here for months, and we volunteered to check it out."

Naruto's face fell. "I thought I'd let myself get spotted too many times."

Sakura took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she knew she had to say. "Naruto, why don't you come back with us? I mean, we know you're alive, and maybe the Hokage could help you. You don't need to hide from us anymore."

He turned his blue gaze on her, and she could see the anger burning inside. "I _can't_ go back Sakura. I can't. You just don't get it. Even when I was human, I was _hated._ The villagers thought I was the Nine Tails. They hated me, hit me, screamed at me, and called me all sorts of horrible names." He got to his feet and started pacing.

"I spent my seventh birthday running from a mob that wanted to lynch me, and would have if it weren't for a passing ANBU, my eighth getting stabbed in the arm with a butcher's knife. You ever wonder why I was never adopted in twelve years? It's because nobody _wanted_ me. _Nobody._ Iruka-sensei was my only friend. But even he couldn't be there all the time for me. And now... now I actually look like the thing that killed their friends and family!" Naruto's tail, still so strange an idea, lashed out, as if in emphasis, striking a rock sending it smashing into a tree trunk. For a brief moment, Sakura thought she saw a red glimmer in the corner of his eyes.

Memories came flooding back to her. She remembered seeing him alone on the playground swing, so many years ago. She remembered all the rumors that passed between the kids her age about him, how he was a bad influence, someone to be avoided. She heard it from the adults too. But she'd never questioned it. No one had. They all just went along hating.

Wetness stung her cheeks, and in an instant, she got up to her feet and wrapped her arms around Naruto's fur covered torso.

His body went rigid. "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you, you idiot."

"Why?" He sounded so bewildered, and it just made her hug him tighter.

"Because you deserve it Naruto."

Behind her, Kakashi spoke. "Naruto, no matter what, we still need to inform the Hokage of what happened to you."

Sakura allowed Naruto to dislodge her as he turned to face Kakashi. "I guess I can't change your mind on that?"

"No."

Naruto sighed again. "Fine."

Kakashi looked up at the sky. "We should be heading back to the village now before it gets any later. We've been gone long enough."

They were leaving already? But they had just found Naruto! "Kakashi-sensei, do we really need to leave?"

"Unfortunately, yes Sakura. It will take time for me to discuss things with the Hokage."

Sakura frowned, but relented. She turned back to Naruto and gave him another quick hug. "We'll be back, okay Naruto?"

As the trio walked away, Sasuke turned back to their lost teammate. "Hey you idiot, if I find that you've packed up and left when we come back, I'll skin you alive."

Sakura's eyes widened at the suggestion. She looked back with a fierce glare. "That goes double for me Naruto! Don't you dare even _think_ about doing that."

Naruto left let out a huff. "Trust me, I'll still be here."

"I'll hold you to that then," she replied.

* * *

Iruka was walking out of the Hokage residence, having just informed him of his grandson's continued antics. Konohamaru's pranks were getting out of hand, and either the boy's parents or his grandfather would need to speak to him about it, and soon.

The young genin's antics had been getting worse like this for months, ever since Naruto died. The thought brought an ache to the Iruka's heart. He knew how much the boy had admired Naruto. Iruka knew he was just trying to live up to Naruto's old title of supreme prankster. But he needed some form of restraint, and he needed it soon. Sometimes what he did was funny, but more and more, his jokes were pushing the borderline of "potentially dangerous", like using actual firecrackers instead of just smoke bombs. The boy was lucky he didn't give one of the older instructors a heart attack.

Iruka missed Naruto too. The Ichiraku Ramen stand wasn't the same without the blonde's presence. It seemed so surreal, so strange, to be there with that empty seat. If he were more poetically inclined, he might even say the empty seat was like a hole in the fabric of reality.

Who would have ever guessed that the boy who worked so hard to be a ninja, would, in an instance of the universe's sense of supreme irony, end up dying in a domestic accident?

As he stepped out into the mid-afternoon sun, he spotted Team Seven walking towards him, engaged in quiet conversation. Yet another reminder of Naruto. It always made it so hard to be at the Mission Assignment Desk when they came by. Had they picked up another mission today? He'd been too busy preparing tests to be there this morning.

He was about to leave for his apartment when he picked up a scrap of the exchange between between the trio. He blamed it on genetics. His maternal grandmother had always possessed finely tuned ears, "like a bat" as she used to say with no shortage of pride. Granny Maeko used her superior hearing for many an espionage mission, and to great effect. They even started calling her "Maeko the Bat". Iruka had inherited her sense of hearing. He didn't mean to overhear conversations sometimes, it was just unavoidable. It was also why he had far less tolerance for noise in the classroom.

"It's still hard to believe Naruto's alive, after all this time, and...like _that,_ " whispered Sakura.

Sasuke just nodded. "I guess it's not surprising he went into hiding," he added. "I'd probably have done the same."

"Kakashi-sensei, do you think the Hokage can do anything for him?"

"I don't know Sakura, but he needs to be informed. Now you two better head home. I'll speak to the Hokage myself and let you know what he says."

The two genin did as they were told, and Kakashi walked into the residence. Iruka, meanwhile, stood there frozen, mind racing. Naruto... _alive?_ And what was this about being in hiding? What did he need help with? What did "like that" mean?

In the next instant, Iruka was moving upwards to the roof of the neighboring building. Once he reached the roof, he moved to the outside of the window of the Hokage's office, using a Transformation Jutsu to become a pigeon.

Normally he didn't engage in eavesdropping outside of a mission, missions he hadn't been on in years since his appointment as an instructor. And yet, he did it again now, managing to focus his chakra, sending it to his ears to increase his already excellent hearing. It was a trick his grandmother had used to improve her own on missions, one she'd gladly showed him as a child so he could listen in on whatever cruel prank plans his deaf as a post older brother had in mind.

But he severely doubted Granny Maeko would approve of what he was doing now. She'd probably whack him with her walking stick if she were here now.

As he sat there, ready to listen in, his mind was swirling. Eavesdropping on the Hokage was a major breach of protocol. He could easily lose his teaching license if he got caught, just for a start. But at that moment, he didn't care. If Naruto was alive after all this time, if he was still alive and _hurt,_ he had to know, no matter what.

* * *

Kakashi walked into the Hokage's office to find him, as usual sitting in front of a mountain of paperwork. The old man looked up as Kakashi entered.

"Kakashi, you and your team are back already? Was there anything to those reports?"

"Well, it's rather a long story actually..." he began. But before he could say anymore, he sensed something. There was a new chakra signature close by. He knew all the ANBU guards that took shifts around the office, and this wasn't one of them. He looked around slowly, pinpointing the source.

He walked over to the window, opening it, and sticking his head out to stare at a lone pigeon. "It appears we have a fly on the wall, or pigeon at the window as it were. I'll give you points for effort, but I suggest you show yourself right now."

Kakashi stepped back, and the pigeon entered, becoming a very tense looking Iruka in a puff of smoke. Kakashi cursed his luck.

"Iruka?" said Sarutobi in surprise. "What's the meaning of this? Why were you outside my window trying to eavesdrop?" His face shifted into a deep scowl that _radiated_ disapproval. "It isn't like you to do something like this Iruka. Explain yourself at once."

But Iruka barely paid the Hokage any mind. Instead, his gaze was fixed on Kakashi. "I heard what you and your team were talking about when you were walking up to the residence. Tell me."

Kakashi let loose another mental curse. He knew he shouldn't have let his team talk about it as they walked along. They'd been silent through the forest, unsure what to say, and it had all finally threatened to break once they'd returned to the village.

They'd been so careful about keeping their volume low, and Kakashi even used a minor genjutsu to distort their lip movements against any lip readers. How had Iruka still heard them? He didn't remember seeing him. But then, Kakashi hadn't been paying complete attention for once. Personally, he blamed it all on the events of the day.

"How?"

"My grandmother was Maeko the Bat" Iruka replied flatly.

Kakashi wanted to kick himself right then and there. Of _course._ Not only did _Iruka_ of all people have to be there, but he just _had_ to be related to a kunoichi with a legendary set of ears, ears she'd clearly passed down to her grandson.

The Hokage's face was a stone mask now as he looked between the two ninja. "Kakashi, what exactly is going on? What were you and your team talking about that would make Iruka listen in on my office?"

Sarutobi sat there, hands folded, with his chin resting on top of them, leveling his gaze at the copy ninja, waiting for an answer as if its arrival was a fact of the universe. In his younger days, that expression had made Kakashi squirm, though he didn't like to admit it. These days... it still made him want to squirm, but he'd managed to stop himself from actually doing it.

"Before I tell you, I would like to suggest activating the seal of silence. I think it would be best to prevent any other listeners, even the ANBU."

Sarutobi bored holes into Kakashi's face, but nodded, and with a series of hand signs, Kakashi felt the rush of chakra that was the seal of silence, a barrier allowing complete privacy in the room.

Once it was there, Kakashi straightened his posture, totally serious. "The fact of the matter, Lord Hokage, is that the reports of something living in the woods were true. It turned out to be Naruto. He's alive."

Hiruzen's neutral mask slipped completely, his eyes growing as wide as Kakashi had ever seen them. "He's alive?! If you found him, is he with you?"

"No. He's still back where he's been living. It's rather complicated."

Iruka suddenly exploded. "Wait, living in the woods?! Sasuke said he went into hiding. Are you telling me Naruto has been living in the woods for _close to eight months?!_ Why would he do that? Why would he make everyone think he was dead?! Are you kidding? Because I swear if this is some sick joke, so help me I'll..."

"Iruka, please try to restrain yourself," admonished the Hokage. He reached for his pipe, and inhaled deeply from it. "I'm sure Kakashi will answer your questions if you give him the opportunity."

His tone was calm enough, but Kakashi could hear the undercurrent of it, the silent command hanging in the air. _Keep talking. Now._ Again Kakashi resisted that old impulse to squirm, and this time, it was much harder. The atmosphere in the room was getting colder by the second.

He looked at Iruka first, locking eyes. "I really wish it were a joke. I do. But it's not. Naruto...he's no longer human. Somehow, for reasons neither he nor I can fathom, he's mutated into a hybrid between a human and the Nine Tailed Fox."

It was rare to see the God of Shinobi with his jaw hanging open, but indeed, that's what his mouth did. Kakashi managed to catch the pipe before it hit the papers scattered on the desk. Iruka, meanwhile, had turned completely pale, a feat considering his natural tan complexion.

Not that Kakashi blamed them. He felt the same when he saw it. Looking at that face was like looking back on his memories, at that giant beast as it loomed over the village. Although he had to admit, the face wasn't exactly the same, Naruto's eyes were still there in place of the red ones, and the ears were far shorter than those of the Nine Tails, so long they bordered on resembling a rabbit. But all the same, it gave him chills.

It was one of those rare times he was glad his sensei's wife wasn't among the living. Seeing her son like that would have broken her heart.

"Is the Nine Tails free?" asked the God of Shinobi at last.

"No. Naruto is still in control of his body. He recognized us and was able to converse normally, after we chased him down anyway." He related to them the search of the forest, and the long chase that had followed once they'd discovered the cave.

By the time Kakashi was finished, Iruka had sat down, hanging on every word but still just as pale. "How... how did he become...?"

"From what Naruto told us, it appears the flu he contracted that day was just a precursor to the transformation that happened in the early morning. According to him, the fire in his apartment building happen during the change. From what I gathered of his descriptions, it seems like the fire started because of a stray bolt of the Kyuubi's red chakra, which was leaking off his body during the process."

Sarutobi just got up, walking towards the window and looking out at the Hokage Monument. Kakashi didn't even have to guess at what face he was looking at. "Poor boy, to have been burdened with so much misery already, and now this."

"What will you do?"

The Hokage glanced between the two ninja. "Iruka, what do you say?"

Iruka looked up from the floor at the Hokage. "Me?"

"Yes, I would like to hear your opinion on the matter as a teacher and friend." To Kakashi, the Hokage looked every bit like "The Professor" now, a man offering a pupil the chance to answer the question posed to the class.

"Y-You can't leave him alone out there!" he shouted as if he were reprimanding an unruly student, switching the just established roles.

The Hokage just raised an eyebrow at his tone, and Iruka cleared his throat, trying to compose himself as he got up from his seat. "What I mean is, it would be best not to leave him out there all alone. As someone with experience handling kids, I mean, not that you weren't a good instructor Lord Hokage, but...um..." Kakashi had to suppress a chuckle at Iruka's fumbling, despite the seriousness of the topic.

Sarutobi didn't bother holding back his own chuckles and waved his hand. "It's alright Iruka. I take no offense. Please, continue."

Iruka's face had turned red. "Well, as both a teacher, and Naruto's friend, I don't think it would be good to keep him out there. Being alone with no human contact for close to eight months can't be kind on someone's sanity and general emotional health, and I know it wouldn't be good for a twelve year old boy's developing psyche. That would apply even more so for someone like Naruto, who has already had trouble interacting with others his own age or otherwise."

"I agree," said Kakashi. "While he was able to talk to us just fine, he was hostile initially, pushing us away when we realized who he was. He also showed some strong anger, and for a moment, I thought I saw a flash of the Kyuubi's chakra. Further isolation from other people may only make him worse."

"A very valid point," said the Hokage. He inhaled deeply from his pipe. "It is clear to me that Naruto cannot simply continue to live out there. And he must be examined. We must make sure the seal hasn't been damaged by his transformation. And we must also determine the cause of it and reverse it if at all possible. We owe that much to the Fourth for his sacrifice, and to Naruto. I will see to arranging a private place for Naruto to stay, and we can work out a way to get him into the village at a later date. Until then, this must stay the most closely guarded of secrets."

Kakashi just nodded. "Yes. I imagine that if word got out about Naruto's condition, so to speak, it would cause a mass panic." Kakashi could already envision the frightened villagers, crying out about the Nine Tails being reborn.

"No one will know about this other than you, the rest of Team Seven, and any others I may choose to bring into the fold later. Not even my counsel will know. For as much as they are my counsel, I do not trust them to have a sympathetic reaction in this case. Do both of you understand?"

"Yes sir," the two ninja said at once.

"Good. And Iruka, in light of all this, you won't face any reprimand for your actions, but _don't_ do that again? Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," repeated Iruka with far less volume.

"There was one other thing Lord Hokage," said Kakashi. "My team and I were planning to tell Naruto of your decision. I was wondering if perhaps our mission could be filed as inconclusive, and you could grant us permission to go out again tomorrow."

"Done."

"And... actually, maybe it would be a good idea for you to come along too Iruka. It would be good for Naruto to see you."

Iruka smiled. "I'd like that. And tomorrow is an off day from class anyway."

Sarutobi just nodded. "I'll let you arrange personal details amongst yourselves then. For now, I have much planning to do. The guards at the gate will be informed of your trip tomorrow. Simply inform me of when you plan to depart."

The two left the Hokage's office and agreed to talk later in the day to finalize plans. Kakashi just walked along the busy streets towards the homes of his students, ready to inform them of the coming day. As he walked along, he cast another glance at the stone face of his old sensei.

 _Your son won't be alone anymore sensei. And I'll do all I can to fix him. That's a promise._

* * *

Author's Note: So, with this chapter, I felt it necessary to make one particular remark, in case anybody asks. This idea is NOT related to the "Chibi Kyuubi" thing from later canon. When I came up with the basic idea of this story, it was probably about 2010-ish from what I can tell, way before that existed, either manga or anime, even in Japan. I had lost touch with much of Naruto for a long time (and I still have not seen a lot of episodes) and I only found out about it (and saw the screenshot) on the Naruto wiki while doing research and catching up when I was playing with this again.


	6. Changes

Author's Note: First of all, a rather long intro author's note. There is one other thing I forgot to mention as I was posting this story. The Camouflage Jutsu I used in chapter 4 wasn't something I thought up out of the blue.

I was inspired by "The Way of the Apartment Manager" by Elizabeth Culmer. Without her story, I never would have thought of that sort of jutsu, and it was perfect for what I needed in chapter 4 when I was drafting it back in like January.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot about that when I was editing it for publishing, and it only dawned on me after I had posted chapter 5. This has caused me a great deal of distress and anxiety, no joke. So I'm saying it now. I was inspired by her story. I'm deeply sorry I forgot to mention it, since I should have.

In addition, I _absolutely_ recommend her work. It's on fanfiction dot net and AO3 for those interested. Seriously, her stories, like "The Way of the Apartment Manager", are _beautiful._ If you haven't read them, make time to do so. You won't regret it, not for a _single_ _second._ I'll also make the effort in the future to cite those who have inspired me, or just recommend really good stories I have found.

And now, responses:

Guest 1 for ch 5: Yes and no for talking. They can talk like they did in canon, but so far the two haven't met each other yet. As for the other matter, I can see why you think that and I hadn't actually considered it. But I am going to say no. I know that Naruto would not take kindly to being called that either. Although would you mind if I used that in my story, people calling him that I mean? Just wanted to ask.

ShadowImageComics: Thank you. I do have some plans for that, but don't worry about the suggestion. While I've heard of Bleach, I've never seen it, so I have no idea what you're talking about. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am just a fan.

Chapter 6: Changes

After several rounds of coordinating the day before, Team Seven, plus Iruka, found themselves leaving the village in at 11:00 AM, headed deep into the forest. There was a spring Sakura's step as she walked along the path.

The day previous had been, to put it very mildly, a storm of emotions. It was a storm Sakura had to deal with the minute she got back to her room. Fear, sadness, joy, it all just came out in the confines of those walls. Her heart broke for what happened to Naruto, broke for his circumstances now and for having to carry a monster inside him all his life.

After a torrent of tears she miraculously managed to keep her parents from noticing, she decided to pull herself together and stay positive. She had wanted a chance to start over, and now she had it. They were going to visit Naruto, eventually get him back into the village, and start figuring this mess out.

And besides that, she'd really just needed to stop herself from crying. She'd used up the only bottle of eye drops she had yesterday just trying to keep her parents in the dark. That, and she found applying eye drops herself to be a pain.

So it was with that renewed purpose that she walked down the road, a beaming smile on her face. Up ahead of her, her current and former senseis were engaged in conversation.

"I really hope you don't read that in front of your students," said Iruka, eying Kakashi's beloved book, fixed as it was in front of his masked face.

Kakashi just lazily turned the page. "I don't see the problem. There's nothing against reading any other books in public, is there? Or were you interested in borrowing it? I don't really want to lend you this copy, but I do have a hardback edition at home I could lend you."

Iruka just turned beet red, sputtering for words before finally settling on "How can you even read and walk at the same time?"

"I have years' worth of skill."

Iruka's frustrated expression made Sakura feel sorry for her old teacher. She supposed he wasn't really used to Kakashi like they were. She chose to lend him a hand.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're lucky your book didn't get damaged when Naruto kicked you down that hill" she said with perhaps a bit too much cheery volume.

Iruka looked back at Sakura, and then to Kakashi. "Oh that's right, you mentioned something like that." Iruka's mouth twitched. "You really got knocked down a hill by a genin?"

"A small one," replied Kakashi quickly.

"He also landed in a pond." added Sasuke. Frustration at their sensei's antics had been a bonding point for Team Seven right from the very beginning, as had the occasional, albeit rare, chance to get back at him.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke as if the boy had personally betrayed him. Sasuke meanwhile just stayed completely stone faced.

"Really? I don't think you mentioned that yesterday."

"Well-"

"He really did" answered Sakura. "We were all so focused on chasing Naruto, but looking back on it, it was kind of funny." A fit of laugher rose up from her chest at the memories from yesterday, separated now from the lens of anger and panic. "Kakashi-sensei had mud all over his face and in his hair. And he was trying to spit out water too."

Iruka broke into a fit of hysterics at the mental image, and Sakura laughed with him. Sasuke smirked.

Kakashi just turned red and glared back at his two students. "Remind me to make the both of you do five more laps on the obstacle course tomorrow," he grumbled.

* * *

Since they knew exactly where they were going, it was a shorter trip than before. Team Seven took the lead, Iruka trailing behind. As they approached the cave, Sakura didn't see any sign of Naruto. "Naruto? Are you here?" She walked closed to the cave, inspecting the entrance, but found nothing. "Where is he?"

"That idiot better not have left," grumbled Sasuke in annoyance. He moved over to a patch of trees. "Naruto!"

Sakura looked around the mountain clearing again. She didn't see a trace of their friend. Then, a gleam from the late morning sun caught her eye. It came from a tree on the left, something metal hidden behind the leaves of a low tree branch. It seemed bent, but not in the usual way branches tended to be.

Then something else caught her eye. It looked like... a wire? She followed it out from the tree to the ground, right where Sasuke was headed-No!

"Sasuke, tripwire!"

Sasuke's foot had already taken another step forward when she shouted. There was the sound of the wire being pulled, and Sasuke leapt backwards just as the branch flung forward, and several shuriken shot out, lodging themselves into the base of an adjacent tree trunk.

Sakura was next to him in a heartbeat. "Are you okay Sasuke?"

The Uchiha just shrugged. "I'm fine" before adding "Thanks for the warning Sakura."

"Looks like someone hid a wire in this pile of leaves, and quite well I might add," explained Kakashi as he bent down to examine the trap. "Judging from their trajectory, those shuriken were meant to hit whoever triggered this in the leg."

Sakura looked at the cluster of five shuriken embedded in the tree. If those had hit, Sasuke probably wouldn't have been able to stand, let alone walk.

Suddenly, Naruto was running up to them. Today he only wore the tattered pants and boots, the latter not even secured with rope. "What happened? Are you guys okay? I heard the noise and..." his eyes locked onto the shuriken. "Oh." He cursed under his breath.

"Naruto!" cried Sakura. "We've been looking for you. We thought for a moment that you'd left."

"Naruto, I don't remember this being here yesterday. Did you make this?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto's feet shuffled, grinding up the leaves underneath. "Um, yeah."

"Naruto, why did you make a booby trap?" From his tone, it sounded more like Kakashi was scolding a child for taking something apart rather than arranging crippling projectiles.

"That thing almost hit me, idiot!" yelled Sasuke.

Naruto just met Sasuke's glare before moving his attention back to his sensei. "After you guys left, I decided to put one together in case anybody else showed up. I meant to disarm it today, I swear. I just didn't think you'd be here this early. I'm sorry-" He froze, his ear twitching. "There's somebody coming." Before they could stop him, he ducked behind a tree.

"It's okay Naruto," said Sakura, trying her best to soothe her teammate. She could practically _see_ his tension, even behind the tree's wide trunk. "We brought someone else to see you."

It was then that Iruka stepped forward to join them. "Naruto?" he asked softly.

"...Iruka-sensei?" breathed Naruto.

"Yes. It's me Naruto." Iruka inched closer. "I overheard them when they were going to the Hokage's office. They told me what happened to you. Please, come out."

Slowly, Naruto came back into view, arms fixed at his sides, ears pulled back, and tail dragging behind him. He took one look at his old teacher's face before simply averted his eyes towards the ground, as if looking at him physically hurt. "Iruka-sensei, I-I'm sorry I made you think I was dead. I didn't want you to see me like this. I... look like the thing that killed your parents. I thought maybe you'd _hate_ me."

Iruka just stood there in stunned silence, taking in Naruto's appearance. He looked away for a moment, before letting out a chuckle. "Naruto..."

When he looked back up, tears were welling up in his eyes, and the next thing anyone knew, he had his arms around the boy. Naruto just looked up at him in complete surprise.

Iruka laughed again. "You should know by now Naruto. I'd never hate you, no matter what you look like." He kept holding onto the fox-boy like he was afraid he'd disappear once again. And for all Sakura knew, maybe he did.

After a few moments, Naruto broke the silence. "Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Thank you. But..." Naruto let out a groan. "Could you move please?"

Iruka pulled back, looking hurt. "Huh?"

Naruto just winced. "You're standing on my tail."

Sakura looked down, and saw how Iruka's right foot was planted firmly on the mass of red fur. The idea of it being there at all was still so bizarre. She'd have to watch her own footing around him. Was it like stepping on someone foot? _I really hope I didn't do that too yesterday. Maybe he didn't want to say anything?_

Iruka just blinked before looking down himself. "Sorry Naruto." He gently lifted his foot before letting Naruto go completely.

Naruto just massaged the sore appendage. "It's alright." Then he just sat down on one of the many rocks in front of the cave, just like yesterday. And also like yesterday, they all joined him.

"So," he began. "What did the Hokage say?"

"He wants you to come back to Konoha," replied Kakashi.

Naruto shot to his feet. " _What?!_ Did the old man lose it or something?! He expects me to go back to the village like this?"

"Sit down Naruto," said Sasuke flatly. "The Hokage is planning on sneaking you in to someplace private."

Naruto sat back down, taking a deep, cleansing breath, but didn't take his eyes off Sasuke. Behind him, his tail has started to twitch. "How?"

"He hasn't worked that out yet," answered Kakashi. "But it shouldn't take longer than a few days. He feels it's necessary to have you examined. We need to make sure the seal on the Nine Tails is still intact."

Naruto seemed to consider it, before slowly exhaling. "Guess that's good enough reason..."

Even if she hadn't been right next to him, it was clear he still wasn't entirely okay with it. His posture was still very rigid, and his fingers twitched continuously, along with his tail. Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. "You won't be alone this way Naruto."

He jumped at the contact before looking over at her. His muscles seemed to relax. "Thanks."

"Hey, I bet you're probably wondering what's been going on since you've been out here," said Iruka quickly. Clearly he was trying to distract Naruto from whatever he was feeling. But she certainly didn't have a problem with the obvious tactic. And neither, it seemed, did Naruto and the others. "Konohamaru has actually taken up your title as village prankster."

That got Naruto's attention. "Really? How's he doing with that? He probably gets away with a lot more than I did, being related to the Third."

"Well... yes and no. Honestly, his pranks are getting more out of hand lately."

Naruto leaned closer. "What do you mean?"

"Just recently he used a bunch of firecrackers to surprise classmates by hiding them in desks. He ended up setting about half a dozen of those on fire. We had to close down the whole room for repair and cleaning."

"That's what it was?" asked Sakura in disbelief. She'd heard that the fire brigade had been called to the academy, but she hadn't gotten the details on what the reason was. For obvious reasons, she didn't like hearing details on that sort of news. She'd simply been satisfied at the time to know it wasn't a raging inferno.

"Firecrackers set to go off in a desk? That's asking for trouble." muttered Sasuke in agreement.

Sakura just shook her head. "He's the Hokage's grandson. Didn't he pay attention at all in class?" Since they lived in the Land of Fire, and affinity for that kind of jutsu was more common, fire safety lectures at the academy were a regular thing. Better to start early and hammer it in before someone did something stupid. From what she'd read, it had been a regular feature since the academy was founded in one form or another.

She'd been in attendance for them, and so had Naruto all the other genin. Sasuke actually hadn't been. But when she'd asked Iruka-sensei, he just told her that the Uchiha, being fire specialists themselves, gave their own lectures on fire safety.

"Yeah," agreed Naruto. To Sakura, it might have been one of the first times the three of them had ever agreed on something, especially on whether that something was a bad idea.

"He's definitely got a problem with restraint. I've told the Hokage and he's going to try speaking to him about it. I just hope he doesn't try full on fireworks. If he does, he might blow a hole in a wall."

"If it were me, I wouldn't have done something like that. Or maybe just smoke pellets," said Naruto as he looked off into distance, clearly going through his memories. "I never used firecrackers. I tried one I found once. Somebody had dropped a bunch of them. Didn't even realize they'd fallen off their cart. I thought maybe it might be fun to use. But I realized they were way too dangerous. Gave the others to an ANBU that passed by."

"At least you had _some_ sense," stated Sasuke with a nod of his head.

Naruto turned an irritated eye towards the Uchiha, but actually chose to let it pass. "Yeah. And, well, I couldn't really get my hands on them anyway, other than that accident."

"Didn't I also hear something about an incident involving a live snake at the academy?" Kakashi cut in. He was back to reading his book, but true to form he appeared to be half paying attention.

Iruka nodded his head. "Yeah, that was Konohamaru too."

Naruto tilted his head. "A snake? Konohamaru brought a snake into class?"

Iruka just nodded again. "Yes. But..." he chuckled. "I have to admit, it was actually kind of funny." His cheeks turned pink. "Maybe I shouldn't sharing this."

Naruto scowled at the older man. "You can't just start something like that and leave it there Iruka-sensei." By now he'd folded his legs on top of the rock.

"Yeah," added Sakura. An opening like that had piqued her interest as well. "And besides, it's not like we're academy students anymore. There's nothing wrong with sharing the story with us."

"Alright then." Iruka cleared his throat. "Do you remember Kouji Matsumota, the taijutsu instructor?"

"He was the one with the really big arms covered in tattoos, right?" asked Sasuke.

"So he was an instructor?" spoke Kakashi again. "I passed him on the academy grounds when I was going to meet one of my failed teams. He seemed more like a sailor to me. I thought perhaps he had a student there."

"Yeah, I remember him" said Naruto. "He was a jerk. He yelled at me a lot."

Sakura nodded. She too, remember Kouji-sensei from those early academy days. His class had been a nightmare. If Kakashi was sadistic, Kouji-sensei seemed downright cruel at times. He yelled at her too. "He insulted my hair color a lot of times" she grumbled. As if she could help what she was born with! In general, the man just didn't seem to be nice to anyone. She even heard he liked to kick small animals, and Sakura honestly believed it, even now. And judging by the unhappy expression on Sasuke's face, she suspected he had much the same impression of the man as the rest of them.

But then, something else popped into her head. "Wait, wasn't he put on suspension?"

"Yes, he was." confirmed Iruka. "But one of our taijutsu instructors moved back with his family, and we don't have many ninja qualified to teach taijutsu-only classes. So we had to bring him off suspension. We've talked to him about his attitude, but it just doesn't seem to stick."

Sakura frowned. "Okay, but where does Konohamaru bringing in a live snake fit into this?"

"Well last week I was passing by his class when I heard this scream. From the sound I thought it was one of the kunoichi, and that maybe Kouji crossed a line. So I rushed in. And there he was, sitting there screaming at this tiny little snake, maybe six inches long, a nonvenomous one. Konohamaru said he slipped it into his pocket. I thought he was going to break glass with those screams."

Sakura couldn't help it, she laughed. The mental image of that big brute screaming away at a tiny little snake threw her into a furious fit of giggles. Sasuke settled for smirking very hard, and Kakashi hid his own laughter behind his book. And Naruto broke into complete laughter. He was laughing so hard that he just managed to catch himself before he lost his balance on the rock. "Can't say the guy didn't deserve that" he said between trying to keep himself steady.

The smile that had already been on her face grew twice as large. It had been so very long since she'd heard that sound. For a long time, she was convinced she'd never hear it again. And now here it was. _Don't cry,_ she told herself. _You'll never be able to pass off the red eyes when you get home._

Her own rock was close to a tree, and she leaned back against the bark, trying to settle down the laughter still bubbling up from her insides. Her fingers brushed against something. Looking down at the bush beside her, she saw an object sticking out. Pulling it free revealed the item to be a sturdy wooden bow. "Hey, what's this doing here?"

Naruto's laugher died down as he looked at the item in her hands. "Oh, that's mine. I knew I left it around here. Thanks for finding it."

Iruka turned to Naruto with curiosity. "You can use a bow and arrow Naruto?"

"Yeah," answered the fox-boy matter-of-factly. "The quiver's back inside," he said as he pointed at the cave.

Now that was definitely a surprise to Sakura. She'd never seen him with a bow before, not in all the time she'd known him. And she knew he didn't learn it at the academy. They'd had weapons training of course, but arrows were so infrequently used by ninja that they hadn't even been among the selection.

Sasuke smirked again, eyebrow raised. "Doesn't archery require _patience?_ "

Naruto leveled his gaze with the dark-haired boy. "What's your point?"

Sasuke's smirk got bigger. "You just don't seem like the type. That, and your aim never was very good."

"Oh yeah?" challenged Naruto. "Have _you_ ever used one, jerk? I bet I'm a better shot that you! No, scratch that, I _know_ I'm a better shot than you."

"More likely you're the lousiest shot ever."

Sakura was pretty sure that Sasuke hadn't used one either, at least not in their academy years or after. She was torn between Inner Sakura's irritation at what appeared to be another one of her teammates' arguments, and the warm feeling in her chest at seeing these fights again at all. In the end she suppressed Inner Sakura and settled on the warm feeling. This sort of thing would probably go back to driving her nuts soon enough, but for now, she could live with it.

"Now, now you two," said Kakashi as he came between them. "Let's stop before you two start throwing punches."

"Hn."

Naruto pulled back, eyes narrowed. He seemed to be thinking of a reply. "Be right back."

Naruto walked back inside the mountain cave, and a few minutes later, he emerged with a quiver strapped to his back and, to her confusion, carrying several small logs, all of them clean of branches and about the same size. He had them all bundled in his arms, minus one precariously balanced on his tail.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "What are those Naruto?"

"Targets," was all his said. It was then that Sakura noticed the deep X that had been carved, seemingly with a kunai, into each and every one. He set those down before going back into the cave, and returning with more.

Sakura looked down at the bow that still sat in her lap. It looked like a longbow. But it didn't seem hand made at all. "Where did you get this Naruto?"

"I... stole it" admitted the fox-boy. "Didn't have much of a choice." He glanced at Iruka, who responded with sympathetic smile.

Sakura just nodded. She'd thought as much. "What about those shuriken?"

"Not those. People lose those things all the time out here. I just pick them up. Oh yeah, that reminds me." He went back into the cave, carry a couple more targets and a small bag. He set the bag down in front of Sasuke. "These are all those shuriken and kunai you tossed at me."

Sasuke picked up the bag, examining the contents. "Hnn."

"There" he declared after one more trip. He stood before a pile of now a dozen identical targets on the ground. He turned toward Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, could you make some shadow clones and throw all of those in the air for me?"

Kakashi's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "You want to try to hit all of these in the air?"

If Naruto thought it was a bad idea, he didn't show it. He just nodded.

Sakura just tiled her head. Was this just one of his impulsive decisions? It didn't seem like it. He seemed really relaxed, something he never was when he charged into learning a new technique. There was a quiet confidence there that just perplexed her. He'd never shown that sort of thing back in the academy, or when they'd been on Team Seven. What was he thinking?

Getting no further answer, Kakashi did as he was asked and summoned five shadow clones. With a target in each hand, they stood ready. Naruto took the bow back from her and walked over so that he stood a distance away from the row of clones.

Reaching into the quiver, he notched one of the arrows and drew back the string. His face was pure concentration. "Ready when you are."

The Kakashi clones threw all of the targets into the air at once. And just like that, Naruto sent the arrow flying. It struck one of the airborne targets with a thud. Sakura watched as more followed in quick succession, one after the other after the other, Naruto eyes fixed on the free falling logs as each one was struck down.

The last target was so close to the ground now, passing by one of Kakashi-sensei's clones. Naruto craned his head, tracking its fall carefully, before letting another shot fly out. For a moment, she thought it would strike her sensei in the face. But the arrow just sailed by, missing the clone by only a hair's breadth before slamming into the target.

Sakura sat there, dumbfounded. Every single target lay on the ground, each with an arrow stuck firmly in the very center of the X. Twelve bullseyes, from the air. Her brain sputtered. _How did he? When did he?_

Around her, everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing. Kakashi dispersed the clones, but still looked like it had been the real him that had almost been hit with the arrow.

Finally Iruka broke the silence. "That was incredible Naruto! When did you learn to do that?"

Naruto just turned back to his old sensei. He scratched his cheeks, and Sakura thought that maybe she saw them turn a shade of pink. It was so difficult to tell under the already deep red fur. "I picked it up while I was here." Then he looked over at Sasuke and smirked at him. "What were you saying about me being a lousy shot Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned his head sharply. " _Fine._ I was wrong, and you're really good."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah. I-" he stopped suddenly before yawning. He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes. "Man, I'm tired."

"What? Did that wear you out?" retorted Sasuke, still sore over being shown up.

"Nah," said Naruto. "I-" he yawned again. "I was up part of the night. Big thunderstorm. No lightning or anything, but the constant booming kept me awake. Guess it all caught up with me now." He stretched his back, reminding Sakura very much of a cat. "Look guys, I'm going to go sleep for a while. I..." he let out an even bigger yawn, "uh, thanks for coming out here."

Sakura didn't want to leave. She had so many more questions. But one look at Naruto and how heavy his eyelids were getting told her that it was best to go. He'd probably be unconscious in the next ten minutes at most.

"It's no problem Naruto," replied Iruka. He hugged the boy one more time. "You go get some sleep."

Naruto just nodded before heading back inside. Team Seven, plus Iruka, just gathered up their things. As they walked away, Sakura took one more look back at the mountain cave.

 _Pleasant dreams Naruto._

* * *

It was two days later when Team Seven returned to the forest. Iruka wasn't with them this time, since he had class. As they walked up to the clearing, it seemed as empty as it had before. This time, they all approached with more caution, in case Naruto had set anymore trip wires. There didn't seem to be any suspicious piles of leaves this time around.

"Naruto?" called out Sakura. No answer came.

"Maybe he's still asleep" suggested Sasuke.

Sakura looked at her watch. It was 1:30 PM. It was less probable that Naruto would still be sleeping, but she supposed the cave interior was the easiest place to check first. "Let's go see," she answered.

The trio made their way into the cave, flashlights in hand. Sure enough, there was Naruto, still sleeping away on the floor. How he found that comfortable she didn't know. She'd always used a sleeping bag on missions.

Kakashi walked ahead of them. "Alright Naruto, time to wake up." He reached out and shook the boy's shoulder.

What happened next was a blur of motion. Naruto bolted awake, yelling before grabbing Kakashi's arm and pulling the surprised jonin to the ground. A kunai that had been hidden in the darkness hung above their sensei, ready to strike. A growl echoed off the walls. With equal speed, their sensei rolled out of the way just as the kunai came down, burying itself into the floor.

"Naruto!" she screamed.

Naruto blinked, breathing heavily before turning to look at them, eyes widening as realization and wakefulness seemed to hit him. The kunai had clattered to the floor when he let it go, and the fox-boy scrambled backwards away from it. "Kakashi-sensei. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... don't startle me awake like that! I... it w-was a reflex."

Kakashi pulled himself up. "I guessed that."

"There, um, have been some predators out here and I really didn't mean to-"

"It's okay Naruto," insisted their sensei as he dusted himself off. He looked back up at the fox-boy. "There's no need to apologize. I probably should have known better than to do... that..."

Sakura knew what had distracted her sensei. She saw it too. She'd been fixed on it from the very second he'd rolled away. A glance at Sasuke confirmed that he too was staring. "Naruto..." she whispered.

"Your eyes." finished Kakashi.

There in the darkness, partly broken as it was by the beams of their flashlights, was Naruto's face. But his eyes. They were _green,_ green and _glowing in the dark,_ the pupils so incredibly large, larger than a normal person.

Naruto just blinked, his face changing from one of fight to simply confusion. Finally, the two green lights just rolled. "Oh, that" he replied. "They glow in the dark. I know."

"You mean this is normal?" cried Sakura.

Naruto just shrugged. "I noticed it the first night here. You get used to it."

Her body slumped a little. _How do you just get used to glow in the dark eyes?!_

A realization seemed to hit Sasuke. "Your eyes don't glow in the dark Naruto."

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call this?" he argued, pointing at his eyes.

"Eyeshine."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh of course, eyeshine!"

"What?"

"Let's have this conversation out in the sunlight," interrupted Kakashi. Without argument, the group walked outside. Sakura's shaken nerves started to settle as they exited. What exactly had Naruto meant by predators? It would be something to ask Naruto about later. But since their sensei didn't seem to want to bring it back up, she didn't see any reason to start asking herself.

When they left the mouth of the cave, Naruto blinked at the bright sunlight. "Is it already afternoon?"

"It's 1:30," answered Sakura. In the daylight, his eyes had gone back to blue, the pupils reduced to normal, human size.

"So what's eyeshine?"

She looked to Sasuke, and he just gestured for her to continue. "It's something a lot of animals have. They have a shiny part in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum. In low light, it reflects any light shining on it, creating a glow effect. It helps improve sight in the dark. Haven't you ever seen a cat at night?"

"Oh right..." muttered Naruto.

Sakura supposed the eyeshine was just another fox thing in Naruto's odd new physiology, though she'd never seen enough real foxes to know if they had it. Ultimately, it was another thing in a list of things she needed to get used to. But suddenly, something else occurred to her. "Hey Naruto, if you have eyeshine, then how come we didn't notice it under your hood?"

"I know how to angle my face so you wouldn't notice it. I learned how to do that after I ran into somebody and they saw my eyes. The guy thought I was a ghost." He chuckled. "I decided to play along. Scared him off." Naruto stopped when he spotted their gear sitting just outside. "What's that?"

He was pointing to the large basket Sakura had brought along. She smiled at him. "I had this idea that since we're going to be out here again, we could eat lunch together. So I brought a picnic."

"You did? Thank you Sakura. Do you, um, need any help getting everything out?"

It occurred to her that this might have been the first picnic he'd been invited to. The thought pricked her heart. _All the more reason to include him._ Sakura smiled. "Sure."

"While you do that, I think I'm going to give my nin-dogs some exercise" stated Kakashi.

"You're not going to help us?" asked Naruto.

"Why Naruto! I'm just thinking of my dogs" Kakashi countered, voice dripping with hurt. "Proper exercise keep them in fighting shape and helps the bond between the summoner and the summon."

"Yeah right, you're just lazy," muttered Naruto under his breath. Sakura suppressed a laugh.

Their sensei summoned his back of dogs, appearing by his side in a puff of smoke. Pakkun sat atop Bull's head, scanning the area to orient himself. His gaze landed on Naruto. "Kakashi told us what happened to you kid, but I guess you have to see it to believe it. Hey, do you want to touch my paw?"

Naruto just frowned. "No thanks."

Pakkun's face fell. "No one ever does..."

"I'm going for a walk," said Sasuke suddenly.

"Be back in ten minutes. We should be done by then" she told him.

"Fine." He turned back to Naruto. "You didn't set anymore traps did you?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. But if you're going to walk around, avoid going southwest. There's a really big hornet's nest there. They're nasty enough that they'll attack you just for getting close."

The two went their separate directions, and Sakura started taking out the blanket under a tree for shade. "Help me spread this out. You take the other side."

Naruto took the blanket as he was told. "You really don't mind them not helping?"

"No. This isn't that hard. The two of us will be enough."

After the blanket was spread out, she went back to the basket to start removing the contents. She'd gotten her mother to help put everything together. Her mom usually made food in excess, and this had been no exception. Thankfully Sakura was in good enough shape now to carry the big thing around without too much trouble. When she came back to the blanket and set down the food in her hands, she looked back up to find Naruto staring intently at her. "What?"

Naruto cleared his throat. "I just... I've been wondering... when did you cut your hair?"

Sakura fingered her pink tresses, the ends falling around her chin. "About four months ago."

"Why'd you do it though? I thought you liked it long."

Sakura just blushed. Cutting her hair like that had been a big thing for her. She'd thrown herself into training, trying to live up to the optimistic, but firmly held belief of a teammate she thought was dead, and whose death haunted her in her sleep time after time, coming a month after she'd firmly thought Sasuke had died.

She'd been shaken so badly during the search, feeling that for every day with nothing to show that she was slowly sinking into an abyss of fear, misery, and pain. The funeral and the nightmare it helped spawn only served to plummet her even further into those black depths.

She'd needed to feel like she was rising above the surface of it all, like she _could_ rise above the surface. She'd had to do something, a fact made abundantly clear when she'd started spacing out at the mere sight of lit candles.

Of course people had been suggesting that she do something about her hair for a long time, even before Naruto had "died". Initially she'd ignored it because of her titanic crush, a crush that became very hard to focus on under the weight of her nightmares and the guilt that would come to flood her like high tide with time and reflection. Even as she trained harder, she'd kept it the way it was, having gotten quite used to the length and feel of it. But as days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, eventually, she'd decided to make yet another change, to make a statement about herself starting anew, as the old metaphor went.

Although her decision _might_ have been forced by a minor mishap...

* * *

 _August 1st, 12:45 PM_

 _Sakura let out a curse as she sat there on the grass. The day had started out simple enough. They'd gotten a D-rank mission at a small rural community a few miles to the southeast of Konoha. It was just simple farm work. The proprietor was a middle aged woman who was built like a brick wall, but who always seemed to have a kindly expression on her face. She'd thrown her back out and needed help with various chores on her property._

 _They'd been done in a couple hours. But as they were finishing, the woman's daughter came up to tell her mother that her pet rabbit had wandered off._

 _The little girl had begged Sakura and her teammates to help find him, and she'd employed the largest, saddest eyes Sakura had ever seen. She gave in first, and then Kakashi. Sasuke lasted about twenty seconds, but even he folded when faced with that look. But in all fairness, the client did offer to pay a generous extra for their efforts._

 _So they'd all started searching, and Sakura took a patch of trees. And now, she truly wished she hadn't, because she was completely stuck here. This piece of woodland had an absurdly large thorn bush as a resident, as big as her. She'd checked it to make sure the poor animal wasn't caught in there and..._

 _Sakura looked back at the pink mess behind her. Her hair had gotten hopelessly ensnared in the thorns._

 _She gave a tug, but all she got for her efforts were stars in her eyes. She couldn't see it well enough to untangle it herself, and especially not without turning her hands into pin cushions. The giant thorn bush had equally giant, extra sharp thorns to go with it. So she was sitting here, completely stuck. Her muscles relaxed out of habit, but as had happened a few minutes prior, a thorn pricked at her back, making her wince again. She'd been here for ten minutes._

 _Sakura knew Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke would eventually come looking for her. The idea of either of them, or both, finding her like this was mortifying. She was supposed to be improving as a ninja for goodness sake and she'd gotten tangled in a thorn bush!_

 _She had to get out of this before they found her if she wanted to keep any of her dignity. Of course she knew she could just cut the tangled strands, but she'd gotten to like her long hair, crush or no crush. Besides, it would give away the mess she was in. There had to be some way out of this._

 _She gave another tug. The thorn bush held firm. If she didn't have issues with open flame, she'd be tempted to ignite this malicious bush once she was free of it. She pulled again. Still nothing._

 _"Great..." she muttered. "What else could go wrong?"_

 _As if in mocking answer to her question, a rabbit hopped by her. An adorable little tan rabbit with a blue ribbon around his neck and a square-shaped white patch on its back. This was the missing rabbit._

 _She held out her hand. "Hey, come here," she called out gently. The rabbit turned to look at her, and then proceeded to hop away._

 _"Come back here!" she screamed. But the rabbit didn't do anything but continue hopping far, far away._

 _Her hands tightened into fists. That was it. That was just it. She pulled out a kunai and held it behind her. She was getting out here. Without any hesitation, she thrust it into her hair._

 _It was a little while later when she got back to the main house. The rest of her team was there. Both were seated and waiting, Kakashi engrossed in his book since the client's daughter was nowhere in sight._

 _"Ah, there you are Sakura," said Kakashi. "We managed to catch that rabbit, so it's about time...we..." The rest of his words just seemed to vanish when he looked up at her. Sasuke was staring too. She stood there in the doorway, fists clutching several inches of severed pink hair that she'd collected, deciding that stupid thorn bush didn't deserve to have a single strand after it forced her to butcher it. The remaining hair sat on the edge of he left shoulder, and an inch past her right. Her face was one of dark, murderous rage._

 _"What-" her sensei began._

 _"Not. A. Word." She growled. "From either of you." She glared at Kakashi and then at Sasuke. At the moment, she didn't care that she was threatening her sensei and teammate. And from the looks on their faces, she'd guessed they didn't want to argue with her. She just stomped past them to get her bag._

 _The trip back was one of awkward silence._

* * *

When she'd gotten back to the village, she'd made a bee-line for Ino's house. Her blonde friend had simply gasped before taking her to get the choppy mess evened out. She'd ended up telling Ino what happened, but made her swear on her dead clan ancestors never to tell anyone. And after she'd calmed down, she decided that maybe it was time to make another change anyway. So she ended up taking away more than the thorn bush did.

Not that she would ever tell Naruto about that incident. After all his ridiculous mishaps, he'd probably never let her live it down.

Realizing she'd left Naruto waiting for an answer, she focused back on the present. "I decided to make a change. And I like it this way now." That wasn't a lie. Suddenly, she was overcome with self-consciousness. "You don't think it looks bad, do you?" Better ninja or not, she still had some vanity and self-image issues, so sue her. Being teased mercilessly about an overly wide forehead through childhood would do that to you.

Naruto seemed at a loss for words. Was it just because it was her asking or was he just rusty with people? Finally he just shook his head. "No. Not at all Sakura. You always look pretty."

Her cheeks turned red. "Thank you Naruto." Clearing her throat, the two of them got back to setting out the food. By the time ten minutes had passed and the rest of their team returned, the entire picnic was out and ready. Sakura was already seated on the blanket, looking over everything with an air of satisfaction like a hostess at dinner, or lunch in this case. "Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, we're done here."

Her team sat down around the blanket. "Oh wait," interrupted Sakura. "I forgot one last thing." Reaching into the now significantly lighter basket, she pulled out a container covered in large pen-written letters. "This is for you Naruto."

Naruto blinked several times. "For me?" He sniffed the air, and his eyes went wide. "I-Ichirarku Ramen? Thank you!"

Sakura beamed at him, watching him eagerly open the container. "Iruka-sensei suggested it to me. We knew you'd like it." Iruka-sensei had even made sure to tell her all of Naruto's favorites so they would be included. It had taken some convincing to get the two ramen chefs to agree, since they normally didn't do takeout. But with some pleading, they'd finally agreed and left it ready to pick up this morning as she was headed to the village gate.

Naruto was already starting to eat. He was handling the chopsticks clumsily, letting food slip out and plop right back into the container several times. "Naruto, would you like some help?" she offered.

"I'm not feeding him," said Sasuke as he took a sip from his water bottle.

"I'm fine," said the fox-boy as he finally managed to get the hang of it. He chuckled, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. "I guess I'm a little rusty."

"Take your time Naruto," laughed Kakashi. He was using his book to hide his mouth while he ate. "We don't want you to choke after all."

Naruto just nodded before he kept eating, savoring the taste of it in his mouth. "This is good," he muttered.

Lunch went on like that for a few minutes. Despite Naruto being told not to rush, the ramen in front of him vanish quickly, even if Naruto's attempts were still less than coordinated. Once he'd polished that off, he leaned back against the tree. "That was great!" Then he blinked, before looking over at his teammates. "Hey guys, what did you do about the Chunin Exams? They happened already, right?"

"We didn't enter," said Sakura as swallowed a bite of her dumpling.

Naruto's face fell. "Oh. I'm sorry about that..."

"Don't be," interrupted Sasuke. "It wasn't just us. Nobody entered."

"Huh?"

"The Chunin Exams were canceled this year" answered Kakashi.

"What?! Kakashi-sensei, why'd they cancel the Chunin Exams?"

"There was an international incident. I can't really go into all the details, but the Fourth Kazekage, that's the leader of the Land of Wind's hidden village Naruto" he interjected at the boy's confused expression, "was assassinated. His body was discovered by accident approximately nine days after the murder. Word got out to us two days after that. Once the news spread to all the elemental nations, the exams were canceled."

"Seriously?" Naruto leaned back, arms crossed over his chest. "That's really messed up. Who'd want to kill the Kazekage?"

"It's being looked into, don't worry."

Sakura had thought the same thing. It had been the morning of June 21st when they'd gotten the news. Sakura had been planning to cheer for Ino and the others, and Sasuke had settled on watching the first and third rounds as a learning experience. The news of the Fourth Kazekage's body had thrown her sensei, and everyone else's sensei, in an uproar. The ANBU seemed twitchy for a week after that. Not that she blamed them.

She was pulled from her memories by a munching sound, and turned to see Naruto biting into one of the apples she'd brought with her. And he really was biting into it, not just nibbling. Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Naruto, since when do you eat apples?"

Naruto swallowed another bite. "Since this." he gestured at himself. "You can't be too picky out here. And I found out I really like them." He discarded the apple core and picked up another. "These are really juicy Sakura."

"All that time trying to get him to eat healthier. Why didn't I try apples?" grumbled Kakashi.

"There are apple trees around here?" she asked.

"I saw a few while I was walking," answered Sasuke. Naruto just nodded his head as he took another bite.

"There are several different fruit trees and berry bushes scattered through the forests in the Land of Fire," explained Kakashi, taking a break from his reading. "They were planted deliberately to provide extra rations for ninja coming back to the village in case theirs ran low. Enough variety was planted so something is always producing fruit at any given time of year."

"Yeah," said Naruto as discarded the second apple. "There are apples trees that way, and some oranges over in that direction. And there's a whole ton of berry bushes about a mile that way..."

As Naruto went on, Sakura took time to ponder his knowledge of the area. He seemed to know it all so well. Then she remembered how well he'd navigated through here when they chased him. _He must know this place like the back of his hand after all this time._ She supposed that she hadn't really grasped the idea of living in the wild for so long.

Naruto sniffed the air. "Hey, Sakura? I just realized... you sort of smell like Sasuke." He moved closer to her. "Did you finally get him to ask you out or something?"

Sakura turned red, shoving the boy and causing him to land flat on his back. "It's not like that Naruto!"

"We were sparring this morning, idiot, of course you'd smell something" added a glaring Sasuke.

Naruto sat up. "Ow. I forgot how much you could hurt..." he muttered. Looking up at his teammates, he blinked, processing the words. "Wait, really? Did he hurt you Sakura?"

Inside her head, Inner Sakura raged. _Does he still think I'm made of glass or something?!_ But Sakura just took a deep breath. She had to remind herself that Naruto had been out of the loop. "No Naruto, I'm fine," she said flatly, with more of an edge than she intended.

"Speaking of sparring," interrupted Kakashi. "Perhaps it would be beneficial if Naruto were to spar with each of you. Naruto, what do you say?"

"Really? Um, why?"

"I'm interested to see what else you can do," replied Kakashi. "And I think it would be a good experience for the three of you. And, Naruto, it has been a while since you sparred with either of them."

To Sakura, it sounded like a great idea. They were finished with lunch anyway. Getting up, Sakura dusted herself off and looked around the clearing. "There should be good," she said, pointing to a space across from them clear of any rocks. "Who should go first?"

"I'll go first," said Sasuke as he got to his feet.

Everyone moved to the soon to be sparring ground, she and Kakashi sitting down on more of the multitude of rocks around the small mountain. Sasuke stood ready across from Naruto, slipping into a fighting stance. "Ready Naruto?"

Naruto looked a little less certain, but nodded anyway. "Go right ahead, jerk."

Kakashi signaled for them to start, and the two charged at each other. Sakura took the time to study Naruto's movements, especially since she'd be sparring next.

As she recalled, Naruto's taijutsu had been rather sloppy. And here too, it wasn't great. The general form was off, and his movements were fairly simple. This stood in contrast to Sasuke, who stuck with a mix of his own family's fighting style with pieces of standard academy taijutsu, just like Kakashi-sensei had taught him. But Sakura felt that Naruto's poor taijutsu was more from lack of use this time. Despite the lack of proper style and form, he was actually holding out very well against Sasuke.

The difference seemed to be that Naruto now possessed a great deal of speed. Sasuke was fast and Naruto was keeping complete pace with him, and then some. And he was extremely agile. He leapt out of the way of punches and kicks with ease, sometimes with somersaults, only to counterattack. Of course he displayed as much in that chase through the forest, but it was another thing to see it here.

Sakura also took note of his coordination. The young blonde ninja had been horribly klutzy. But Naruto was, well, _graceful,_ as he fought Sasuke. He was so sure on his feet, never faltering, not even stumbling on any of his landings. It was a very far cry from the sparring matches at the beginning of the year. She also couldn't help but notice he hadn't tried to use any shadow clones.

This Naruto in front of her seemed so different in ways from the boy she remembered, and not just in body. From newly acquired skills or even dietary habits, to even attitude at times. She had thought her team had changed so much in the time he'd been dead. But it seemed that Naruto had too.

"You notice the difference too, don't you?"

She looked over at her sensei, and just nodded.

By this point in the fight, Sasuke had decided to use his Sharingan to help with Naruto's quick movements. His red eyes, orbited by two tomoe, flickered back and forth as he tracked Naruto. They had definitely moved the match more in his favor. Naruto threw another punch. Sasuke stepped out of the way, grabbing Naruto's tail to pull him back.

"OW!" roared Naruto.

Naruto yelled, grabbing his tail and pulling it free of Sasuke's grip. "Geez that hurt! New sparring rule. Don't yank my tail! I really hate when that happens." He cradled his tail in his hands.

"You can't be serious," said Sasuke, turning off his Sharingan. "You're complaining because I pulled your tail?"

"Yes! It's connected right to my _spine_ you jerk! How do you _think_ that feels?!"

"I'm surprised you even know that," Sasuke retorted.

"I know what animal skeletons look like!" Naruto shot back. Then he paused, before adding, "You know, survival class? Animal bones?"

"Alright, that's enough. I think this round of sparring is over," said Kakashi. "Great work you two. You're up Sakura."

"Yes sensei." She walked over to the sparring ground while Sasuke took her spot on the rock.

Naruto was still panting, so Sakura just reached into her pocket and slipped on her gloves. While they weren't the same pair, they were still the same kind as the ones she'd worn for the poison ivy.

When Naruto walked over to face her, he seemed less certain and less eager than he'd been with Sasuke.

"You ready Naruto?" she called out.

"Ready."

She threw the first punch. Naruto evaded it easily, as well as the one that followed. He kept doing that, not even bothering to hit back. With Sasuke he'd already counterattacked. _He still must be holding back for my sake,_ she realized. The thought made Inner Sakura stir. She swung again, and Naruto avoided it by leaping up and into a tree branch.

Sakura just smiled. She put her hands together, letting them glow chakra, before she sent them smashing into the tree trunk. As she'd expected, the tree shook, but only lightly. Still, the shock of it was enough to send a startled Naruto off the branch and to the ground.

Once he'd gotten his bearings, he looked up at her, wide eyed. "Sakura! What was that?!"

She just gave him an enormous grin. "I sent chakra to my hands for a quick burst of strength" she declared proudly.

It was something she'd developed in her training. She had been making significant progress with her reserves, and had wondered if she could apply her chakra control in ways that would help her hold her own in battle. At the time, their second C-rank mission had been coming up, and she'd really wanted to hold her own better without a full team, Kakashi-sensei or not. She'd already figured out how to send chakra to her feet for a burst of speed when it dawned on her that perhaps she could do the same to her hands for strength.

It wasn't all that impressive with her still developing muscles. Even that hit to the tree required two hands, and she felt a little taxed, but it was helping to throw more power behind her punches. It had certainly been beneficial during sparring matches and on more than one mission.

"That's amazing Sakura," replied Naruto. "Guess that explains the gloves."

She nodded. "Naruto, I know you used to hold back with me. So what do you say we make a deal? I won't pull your tail if you try not to hold back." She held out a hand to help him up.

He took it, getting to his feet. "Deal."

With renewed vigor, the two threw themselves back into the fight.

* * *

Author's Note: Just a few technical notes and one story mention. I was inspired about Sakura's use of strength by the story "The Charm is Broken Utterly" by barspoon. It's on both FF and AO3. It made me realize that Sakura, if she'd been serious and given the time, could've thought of something like that. Read the story, it's fantastic, and was one of many that gave me what I hope is a good sense of Team Seven.

On a technical level, I wanted to say that when I wrote this, I hadn't really noticed (or maybe it wasn't clear at the time) that Kurama's forelegs ended in hands. I thought they were paws, hence Naruto's hands. So in this universe, let's say they are paws.

Second, this is late, but my image of his apartment building and where apartment was is far different from canon. I know. I didn't know that when I came up with this.


	7. Homecoming

Author's note: From this point, I'll be using something of my own timeline and date system. So the "KY" you'll see is for "Kage Year", or the year that the hidden villages were created. It will be like BC/AD.

While working on this way back, I found fan-made timelines on the Naruto wiki, and decided to make my own after I realized that despite people's best efforts, there were still points of weirdness, which I attribute to Kishimoto just being bad at keeping track of his timeline, and not checking some of the numbers he threw in. I'm not sure how much that comes into play here, but I'm stating it anyway.

"Kage Year" as a term is derived from a fic I read some of on FF. It was a Sakura time travel story where she ends up in Uzushio and gets bonded to a sacred sword that she can't let go for too long before it snaps back to her. They used "Year of the Kage". I'd love to give credit to the author, but despite my efforts, I can't find it. I think it's gone. If you remember it, please tell me.

Guest1-5: Thank you. As for how tall Naruto is, a somewhat improved diet hasn't improved that really. He's grown some, but just the normal amount for almost eight months. But so has the rest of his team, so he's still the shortest.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I am just a fan.

Chapter 7: Homecoming

It was two days later when Team Seven went back out into the woods again. A nervousness had tugged at Sakura's insides all day, nervousness peppered with some excitement. Today was a special day. Today, they were going to bring Naruto back to Konoha.

The Hokage had informed them of the plan the day before, and they'd relayed it to Naruto when they met him in the mid-afternoon. So it was that at 8 o'clock on the morning of December 8th, in the 63rd Kage Year, Team Seven left the gates of the Village Hidden in the Leaves on a D-rank mission, only to take a detour into the northern woods once they were out of sight. Naruto had been waiting in full view this time when they got there, wide awake and without any traps.

"Are we there yet?" came a grumble from beside her.

Sakura looked over and saw the cart they were pulling back, loaded as it was with a large wooden barrel. "We're almost out of the woods Naruto," she whispered back.

"Remind me again why we had to use this?" hissed the barrel.

Kakashi let out a sigh from the front of the pack. "I told you already Naruto, it's part of our cover."

Officially, Team Seven had been sent out to assist a local sake maker in a nearby town. They even had the mission assignment scroll to prove it. If Sakura hadn't known better, she would have sworn the document was genuine. How they'd managed to make it look so convincing, Sakura didn't know. But she supposed it was a perk of being Hokage.

Once they'd arrived in the woods, they'd killed time with some sparring and target practice. Naruto was apparently less accurate with shuriken and kunai then he was with a bow and arrow, something Sasuke took some pleasure in.

Around 10:30, their sensei said it was time to leave, and brought out the false barrel and cart from a storage seal. Naruto climbed in with what meager things he was bringing along, stuffed into a travel bag they'd given him yesterday.

"But why does it have to _stink?_ " he complained as they walked down the road.

Sakura remembered how he'd grimaced at it the minute it was called out of the seal. Truth be told, there was a faint scent of alcohol coming off of it. She could only imagine what it was like for Naruto's nose.

"It helps make it authentic," explained Kakashi.

"Quit whining Naruto," said Sasuke as he helped pull the cart along.

"Naruto, why don't you try plugging you nose?" she offered. As she'd predicted, their arguments were losing their charm and going right back to being irritating.

"I guess that helps..." he answered back in a now nasal tone.

"You'd better stop talking anyway. We're almost in range of the sentries, and we can't afford to have them hear you or see us talking to a barrel," added Sasuke, giving Sakura a look of gratitude for stopping Naruto's complaints. He'd been doing it at intervals ever since they left. Personally, she blamed part of it on nerves.

Naruto offered no argument, and the rest of the trip was quiet as Konoha's gates appeared in the distance, save for one yelp when they went over a rock. When they finally reached the gate, they were stopped by a jonin kunoichi with long, dark brown hair, equally dark, partly sunken eyes, and a very sharp, narrow nose. She glared at them as they approached. Sakura recognized her as one of the ninja that rotated guard duty at the gate.

"Good morning Tomoyo," said Kakashi cheerily. "What happened to Riichi? He was assigned to this gate this morning."

"My little brother's girlfriend got arrested for shoplifting. He's visiting her right now." stated the clearly unhappy kunoichi. "I told him she was no good. Why'd he have to rope me into this? This was my day off," she grumbled. Then she turned her attention back to them, eying the cart. "What do you have there?"

"The client was extremely happy with the results of our mission," answered Kakashi as he handed over the mission scroll. "He _insisted_ we take this extra barrel back to the Hokage as a thank you. Wouldn't let us leave without it."

Tomoyo snatched the scroll from his hand, looking it over and nodding, before moving closer to the cart. Sakura moved further away from the young woman, feeling suddenly even more nervous and afraid her face would give it away.

"Seems kind of big, don't you think?"

"We tried telling him that," Sasuke replied with irritation. Part of it might have been from Naruto's complaints. Either way, it was pretty convincing. "But he just wouldn't take no for an answer."

Tomoyo just nodded again before handing back the scroll to Kakashi. "Go ahead, but don't blame me if the ANBU give you more trouble."

Kakashi just saluted with more mock cheer, and Sakura gave a sigh of relief. They moved through the village streets. It was 11:15 now, and with the approaching afternoon, the hustle of activity was constantly increasing. Sakura heard a small thud from within the barrel. She frowned. She wished she could talk to him, but they couldn't risk it. Was he still bothered by the smell of the barrel? Or perhaps it was the noise.

Team Seven wasted no time getting to the Hokage's residence. They had to leave the barrel behind for a few moments to reach the Hokage's office, and in that time, Sakura's heart skipped a beat. What if someone decided to investigate it in their absence? Her sensei had clearly thought of that too, because he was moving at a brisker pace than usual.

When they entered, the Third smiled at them. "Ah, Kakashi. Did you complete your mission?"

The Hokage's face betrayed nothing out of the ordinary. Sakura knew why he was bothering with the facade. Kakashi-sensei had explained it to them. The act was for the ANBU guards hidden near the office. The Hokage couldn't dismiss them every time, and especially not for something like this. Sakura just hoped her own poker face was good enough to match.

"Yes sir," replied their sensei. He too, kept up the flawless mask. "And the client sent us back with a gift for you. It's a rather large barrel. Do you want the ANBU to inspect it?"

Hiruzen just shook his head. "No, no, the client is an old dear friend. I can examine it myself. Please retrieve it and follow me."

They went back for the barrel, moving as fast as possible without drawing suspicion. She and Sasuke were the ones to carry it through the halls once the Hokage joined them. Sakura groaned as she adjusted her grip, wishing she was able to use her chakra control for continuous use rather than bursts. Even if you took out Naruto's weight, the barrel was still heavy, not to mention awkward to carry with its dimensions.

They moved quietly through the Hokage residence, passing several visible ANBU along the way who instantly saluted. The Third just nodded at each.

They went into a private wing of the residence, one Sakura had never seen before, though it wasn't like she'd explored it much in the first place. It was a wing filled mostly with guest rooms for dignitaries or family members, though as of late it seemed to have fallen into disuse. The paint on the walls was the same as the other parts of the interior, but Sakura noticed how it seemed so much more faded here.

"You can set it in here. Please feel free to rest while I examine it" said the Third, opening the door to one of the suites. With a hand signal, he dismissed the guards outside before shutting the door.

"Can I get out of here now?" huffed Naruto the minute the door closed.

"Yes you can," answered Kakashi.

The barrel opened, allowing the fox-boy to climb out. He blinked at the difference in light, before his gaze fell on the Hokage. "Hey Gramps," he said quietly.

The Hokage just looked at the boy with widening eyes. But as soon as Naruto spoke, he regained his composure. "I'm glad you're alive Naruto. Though I wish it was under better circumstances."

Naruto just nodded. "I know." Seemingly unsure of what else to say, he looked around the room. "So this is where I'll be staying, huh?"

Sakura joined him in his examination, now that they were behind closed doors. It was a large room, and fully furnished, though several of those furnishings looked to be on the older side, and the tan painted walls were faded like the hallways. The floor was carpeted. Pushed against the far wall from the door was a long tan sofa. Arm chairs flanked it on the each side.

A small table had been pushed out of the way to make room for the barrel. To the right of the door was a kitchenette, with a refrigerator, a sink, and hotplate. The wall on the left had a set of doors closer to the room's southeast corner. Sakura presumed they lead to a bedroom and bathroom. In overall design, it was befitting a guest suite in the Hokage residence.

"I wanted you to be comfortable while we resolve this Naruto."

"Thanks," he replied. "Definitely nicer than my old apartment."

"Forgive me for interrupting Lord Hokage, but I think it's time to deal with the barrel," interjected Kakashi. The Third Hokage just nodded. Kakashi then took out the sealing scroll again, and the barrel disappeared, only to be replaced by another, identical barrel, this one filled with actual sake.

Naruto ducked away from the door, and the Hokage recalled the ANBU, ordering them to take care of the now genuine gift.

"So when are you going to check his seal?" asked Sasuke as soon as the doors closed again.

"I have requested someone to come and check it," replied the Hokage.

"You're bringing someone else in too?" complained Naruto, sitting down on the long sofa. "Why can't you do it yourself or something?" Sakura gave the Hokage an inquisitive stare. Naruto brought up a good point. She'd assumed the Hokage would have done the job himself too, since he wanted it done in the village.

"It is true that I am quite adept at the art of seals. But the ninja I have asked to come here is just as proficient, and is even more knowledgeable than I about the type of seal that contains the Kyuubi. While I could check it myself, it would be more prudent to have it examined by the best authority on the subject that I have at my disposal. Not only that, I trust this person completely. He will not betray your condition or try to harm you."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement, as did Sasuke. Naruto seemed to agree as well, but with far less enthusiasm.

"So where is he?" asked Naruto.

"He hasn't arrived in the village yet, but I requested his presence by today, so I expect he will be here soon." He paused in thought. "Although, he can get distracted sometimes." The last sentence was said with a frown. "I have much work to do now, so I have to leave. But I'll send some ANBU out to make sure that he reports here as soon as possible."

Once he'd left, Naruto huffed. "He didn't even tell us who this guy was."

"Kakashi-sensei," asked Sakura, "Do you have any idea who they might be?" She'd noticed the look of recognition on his face earlier. He sat there, almost trembling. She couldn't remember him doing that before. He clearly seemed to have an idea as to this ninja's identity, and her curiosity was piqued.

The copy ninja looked over at her, took a deep breath, and just shrugged. "I have a few theories, but I don't want to give them out without confirmation. Sorry."

Outwardly, Sakura frowned, while inside her head, Inner Sakura started on a rant. _Don't just leave us with that! If you have an idea, then at least tell us you lazy ninja!_

Taking a deep, calming breath of her own, she paused, blinking in confusion. "Why am I still smelling sake?"

Her hybrid teammate grimaced before sniffing the air, and then himself. "Oh great, the barrel must have rubbed off on me!"

Suddenly, Sakura couldn't help but laugh. It was sort of ridiculous, in its own simple way. "Naruto, I thought boys were immune to their own smell."

Her three teammates gave her offended stares, which just made her laugh harder.

"Hey, this isn't even _my_ smell. Believe it!"

"Point taken Naruto," giggled Sakura. "You should just be glad you didn't have that nose when you got skunked." They'd been given a D-rank to look for a lost pet (not Tora for once), and in the process Naruto had gotten sprayed by a very offended skunk. Then he dove into a lake, not knowing that water just increased the smell. Kakashi had to take him back into the village to have it removed while the two of them completed the mission.

"Don't remind me of that one," groaned Naruto. "But you're right." He grimaced again. "I _hate_ the smell of sake. I need to wash this out before it drives me nuts." Getting up, he found the bathroom door.

"Hey Naruto," Sasuke called out with a smirk as the fox-boy walked into the bathroom, "I know you're not really used to it, but remember to use _soap._ "

Naruto just glared back. "Ha ha, very funny Sasuke. How'd you like me to punch you..." whatever threat he was going to say was cut off by a loud growl. Naruto put a hand on his stomach. "Heh, guess I'm hungry..."

"Sakura, Sasuke, why don't you two get lunch while Naruto cleans up? I'll stay here and keep him company" said Kakashi, once again engrossed in his book. How he didn't burn out on it, Sakura didn't know.

Sakura nodded. "Okay sensei."

Naruto smiled. "Ichiraku Ramen?"

She laughed. Ever since they'd given it back to him, he'd basically expected it whenever they'd brought food along. "Sure Naruto."

Naruto smiled even wider, then grimaced again as he took another breath. Quickly, he retreated into the bathroom, and she and Sasuke headed out of the Hokage residence.

* * *

When Jiraiya walked through the very same gates fifteen minutes after Team Seven, it was with an expression about as unhappy as Tomoyo's. Normally he would have lapped up the attention when the kunoichi saluted him. Right now, other things weighed on the Toad Sage's mind.

He'd spent the last few months pumping his spy network. With Orochimaru having been identified as the killer of the Fourth Kazekage, his informants were going wild trying to find a lead. It made him sick to think that Konoha had come so close to a full invasion, saved only by the dumb luck of two fugitives stumbling across the body. It made him even more ill to think that his teammate had been willing to completely destroy the home they'd been born in and defended during the war.

He wanted, no, _needed,_ to find Orochimaru. He had tried so hard to believe there was still some good inside his old teammate, even after Orochimaru fled the village because of his nightmarish experiments. But for all his efforts, he'd found nothing to absolve Orochimaru of anything he'd done. And now he'd attempted to destroy the village. This had to stop.

But something unexpected had happened. He got a message from his old teacher. It was as simple as messages could probably get, stating that he was needed back in Konoha immediately, by today at the latest, and nothing more.

Though basic, the little message told Jiraiya a few things. First of all, whatever this was, it was _urgent._ By all rights, he, as a spymaster, should have been wandering the Land of Fire and beyond on his book tour. He should have been leading his network, searching for the missing-nin who had planned to invade their village and killed a kage, no matter his personal connection and concerns. And yet he was being called back. And clearly it wasn't something that could wait until his usual return time as he circuited through the country.

Two, the reason for the summons was sensitive, too sensitive to risk putting in the message despite the measures they took to prevent interception.

Jiraiya walked through the busy streets, and found his gaze turning to the west, where the poorer residents were. And he knew that somewhere in there was a space where a blackened ruin of a building had been. His feet felt heavier at the thought. Though he loved his home dearly, he knew that as of late there were reasons that made coming back painful. Reasons why he'd altered his travel route so he came back less frequently.

* * *

 _May 6th, 63 KY 10:06 PM_

 _The bar was loud. The sound mixed together, from the arguments, debates over local contests, and whispered, private conversations. The smell of sake, and food filled the air. And in the middle of it all, Jiraiya sat there, sake bottle in one hand, and his attention focused on the woman next to him as he regaled her with his exploits._

 _Her deep green eyes were wide with amazement, and elbows pressed into the wooden counter while she leaned in. She'd mentioned her name, but for the life of him he couldn't remember it. It might have started with an 'A'. Or was it an 'S'?_

 _No matter the name, she would have been perfect as a character in one of his books, and he mentally catalogued her image for later use. Jet black spilling over her shoulders that shifted with the movements of her head as she listened, a small, delicate mouth and bright smile set inside a heart shaped face, and a very generous figure. He had to put effort into keeping eye contact._

 _He was telling a story after all, and she was interested in hearing it. In this case, it would have been rude to let his eyes wander at this point. Although, looking at her flushed face, perhaps her interest was partly artificial. But he didn't really care at the moment. He was enjoying her attention about as much as the rest of her._

 _"Did you really defeat a hundred ninja at once all alone?" she said in awe, following it up with drunken giggle._

 _"Absolutely!" he declared as he took another sip._

 _"Even with a broken arm and pneumonia?"_

 _Jiraiya just laughed. "I'm just that good! Jiraiya the Toad Sage, that's me!"_

 _"Wow, one of the Legendary Sannin? I had no idea I was talking to such a celebrity!" She took another sip of her own drink, and giggled again. "You," she hiccupped, "you know, I always found little froggies sort of..." she hiccupped again, "cute. The way they hop around is so adorable."_

 _Jiraiya bellowed, drawing attention from several of the surrounding patrons. "Well, actually frogs and toads are quite different."_

 _The young lady blushed fiercely. "Oh! I'm sorry. I had no idea."_

 _The older man held up his hand, stopping the oncoming stream of apologies. "It's alright my dear. Many people don't really know the difference. And since the words came from someone as beautiful as you, I'll take it as a compliment anyway."_

 _"Excuse me," came a voice next to him. "I was told to deliver this to you."_

 _Jiraiya turned to see the plain-faced young man in a courier ninja's uniform holding out an envelope. He knew this particular courier. He was one of several ninja that frequently passed messages to him. He took it quickly, muttering a thank you, letting the messenger walk away. The buzz of the alcohol died down some. He turned back to the still giggling young woman._

 _"Pardon me for a moment my dear." He gave her a bright smile. "It's probably from my publisher. I'm an author too you know."_

 _"Really?! I had no idea you had so many talents."_

 _"That I most certainly do."_

 _"Well while you read that, I think I'll go to the bathroom." She walked unsteadily away, and Jiraiya opened the envelope, expecting to see a note that would appear to be from his publisher, but whose real text was hidden behind a series of hand signs and a special seal._

 _As a spymaster, Jiraiya regularly received reports of important happenings from home: diplomatic meetings, people to turn his spy network on, that sort of thing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, still partly buzzing from the drinks and the mental highs of evening conversation, he registered the particularly dour expression on the messenger's face._

 _But such information didn't reach the surface as he pulled the letter out and began to look over the text. He picked up a bottle of sake, ready to refill his cup. Who would he be focusing on now?_

 _The next thing he knew, the sake bottle slipped from his grasp and hit the floor, shattering into a million pieces. The bartender was yelling about cleaning up the mess, but he and the rest of the noise in the bar faded away into nothing._

 _He read over the message with glazed eyes. Now, he registered the messenger's face, and he understood. This wasn't the usual spy business. This was one of those kind of messages, the kind no officer ever wanted to give, that no officer ever wanted to write, but frequently had to. The sort of message Jiraiya hadn't gotten in any form for a long time. His eyes passed over the words in a blur, written as they were not by a simple officer, but in the Third Hokage's own hand._

 _So sorry Jiraiya... Naruto Uzumaki... fire in his apartment building... partial collapse... exhaustive search... no trace... declared dead..._

 _With each progressive word, soberness hit Jiraiya about as strongly as if he'd been hit with twenty buckets of ice water at once. The young lady had returned to her seat, looking slightly refreshed, but still significantly inebriated. "I'm back. Hey, Mr. Sage? Are you okay? You don't look so good. Is it bad news?"_

 _"Yeah," was his only reply, whispered so softly it might have been lost in the noise. "I... a relative just passed away."_

 _"Oh no!" gasped the woman. Sobriety returned to her in some measure as well. "I'm so sorry. Hey," she called to the still irritated bartender. "Another drink for Mr. Sage here, on me."_

 _Jiraiya just nodded, slipping the note into his pocket. When the glass arrived, he took one look into the cool liquid, before shoving it down his throat. He kept on drinking. But no matter how much liquid he took in, the note in his pocket still burned._

* * *

After that night, it had taken him several days to bounce back. Naruto had died. His _godson_ had died. As Jiraiya pressed on through the busy streets, the thought weighed on him. He was the boy's godfather. He'd left the village long ago, off in search of Orochimaru and any other threats. He didn't think he'd have been any good taking care of the kid at that age. He figured he'd do better to protect the boy by being a spymaster.

But now he sometimes doubted whether that was the right choice. A godparent was supposed to take care of a child if the parents died. It was a status granted only under extreme trust, whether or not that trust was truly deserved. And in that regard, Jiraiya had failed. His last student's son was dead, dead and gone in a horrible accident. And he hadn't been there. The Hokage had sent him pictures in the weeks that followed, memories to cherish, but they'd just hurt Jiraiya more.

The cloud of depression hung over his head as he traveled down the road, before new sounds reached his ears. There was the sound of high-pitched laughter, of gentle splashing. The sound of sandals striking wet stone floors. Traces of warm air hit his face. He found himself next to the Konoha Hot Springs.

The metaphorical cloud vanished, and a lustful smile crossed the sage's face. It was still early in the day. He could take a _slight_ detour. Besides, he needed more research for his books.

With new energy, Jiraiya walked into the hot springs.

* * *

Tomomi leapt from rooftop to rooftop. The Hokage was expecting someone today, and had sent her and her partner out to the Konoha Hot Springs in case he showed up there. The ends of her light blue ponytail tickled the bottom of her neck as she went along. Pausing, she looked back, groaning through her ANBU bear mask.

"Izo, stop being so slow! We'd already be there if it weren't for you!"

"I'm coming," replied her brown-haired partner in the dog mask. He paused to rub at his arms.

"What's wrong with you?"

"The scratches really sting."

They'd been well on their way to the hot springs when some civilian had yelled at them about needing help. Izo, always the heroic one, had stopped to assist her. The problem turned out to be the woman's cat which had gotten firmly stuck behind a piece of furniture. It had taken ten minutes to dislodge the thing. In that time, it had hissed at him, swiping at Izo furiously with some very large, sharp claws. Tomomi wasn't sure if it was because of his mask or if the cat just had that disposition normally.

Tomomi crossed her arms over her chest. "Izo, you're an ANBU. Why did you just sit there and take it?"

"I had to! I couldn't hurt a house cat!" he cried.

If her mask didn't cover her face, Izo would have seen her raised eyebrow. She let out a sigh. Honestly, Tomomi would have bet three months of her salary that, had the Konoha Military Police not been eradicated, Izo would have joined them instead of ANBU. Not that the ANBU didn't already have to pick up the slack these days.

"Maybe the water at the springs will soothe the scratches," she replied.

As the two continued on, Izo spoke again. "Hey Tomomi, what do you think he's like?"

"Jiraiya? No idea. I just hope the Hokage isn't angry at us for taking so long."

It came as a great surprise when the two learned who they were looking for. Tomomi had heard all about Jiraiya and the other Sannin when she was still in the academy. She had no idea what he looked like, the Hokage not having a recent enough photo to use. But the very idea of meeting such a legendary ninja made her inner teenager giddy. The twenty six year old managed to suppress it as they moved closer to the hot springs.

"We should be fine" answered her partner. "If he really did stop at the springs, he might not have been there long. Besides, it's not like he'd cause any trouble."

When they reached the roof of the hot springs, there was a startled series of shrieks.

"What was that?" she cried.

"It sounded like it came from the women's bath. You should go check it out Tomomi."

"Why me?"

Izo just looked down at the ground. Tomomi got the message. Her _ANBU_ partner was too embarrassed.

Groaning, she rushed over to the bath. The patrons were still shrieking. "What's the problem?"

One of the women, a young lady, stood up unsteadily. Tomomi noticed the pair of crutches laying near her at the edge of the spring. "There was a man spying on us! I think... I think he might have hurt Tai!"

"Tai?"

"Her fiancé," answered one of the other women. "We heard him shouting at someone about peeping, and then there was a groan."

"Is he okay? Tai!"

"Settle down Ayumi" soothed the woman.

Tomomi snarled. Creeps like that always got under her skin. She went over to the other side of the fence and found a young man lying on the ground. She checked his pulse. Still there. Somebody had clocked him, and hard too. Spying on women _and_ assault and battery. Tomomi's anger rose higher. Spotting a worker, she called over to them. "You there! Call a medic for this man. He may have a concussion. And inform his fiancé in the women's bathing area."

Going back up to roof, she grabbed Izo by the hand. "Come on Izo. Looks like we've got another bit of heroics to do."

"What's going on?"

"Some creep was spying on the women's bath, and he assaulted the person that spotted him. There!"

The two spotted a large, weird-looking old man running away from the springs. Tomomi gave chase, Izo close behind. Tomomi drew a set of chakra blades, wielding them like claws. They'd look for Jiraiya after this. If the Hokage had a problem, she'd take full responsibility. But this guy was going _down._

* * *

Sakura walked through the crowds of Konoha, groceries in hand, including a container of Ichiraku Ramen. Getting takeout from them was getting to be a regular thing. She just hoped the two ramen chefs wouldn't ask too many questions.

She ran into Sasuke at an intersection. "Did you get the eggplant?"

"Right here," he replied, holding up a bag.

They'd decided to take advantage of the kitchenette and not bother carrying a lot of cooked food, other than Naruto's. And personally, Sakura was hoping an offering of her sensei's favorite food might open him up on who this mystery ninja was. After Naruto, she'd taken time to learn those sorts of things about her team, and she was hoping it would pay off again today.

After double checking that they got everything, the two headed back towards the Hokage residence. The afternoon sun was high in the sky, and if Sakura's hands hadn't been full of food, she'd have wiped sweat from her forehead.

She'd been engaged in light conversation with Sasuke when the two of them passed the hot springs. If it weren't for her ninja training, she would have been knocked to the ground as something large shot right out in front of her.

"Sorry about that got to go!" came the rushed words.

'What..." As soon as the blur of a man passed by them. Two ANBU followed after.

"Get back here you perverted creep!" screamed the female ANBU. "I'll teach you not to spy on the women's bath!"

"In the name of the Third Hokage, we order you to stop!" cried the male ANBU behind her.

Sakura's face darkened. She took a step forward, ready to chase after the man, when Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave it to the ANBU. They should be able to catch the guy just fine. Besides, we have lunch to deliver, remember?"

Sakura let out a sigh. "Guess you're right. What a creep though! If I had the chance, I'd kick him right in the breadbasket!"

Beside her, Sasuke winced. "I don't like the idea either, but I'd rather not have to hear a string of complaints if we take too long."

He was right. Naruto might be done by now, and it was best not to leave him waiting too long. With a nod, Sakura continued walking toward the residence. _I hope it hurts when they catch him._

* * *

Jiraiya huffed as he pressed himself against a wall. He'd finally gotten away from the ANBU pursuing him. "Of all the rotten luck," lamented the sage.

It had all been going so well too. The spring had been filled with a trove of beautiful women. It was some of the best research material he'd ever come across. But then he'd been spotted by a man. From what he could gather before he had to run, the guy was there for one of the women in the spring. And, judging by the name the man shouted and the bits of conversation Jiraiya had picked up while he'd watched, he guessed it was the pretty brown haired one that came for post-leg surgery physical therapy. She'd said her fiancé had been taking care of her and was going to pick her up.

Jiraiya would have been touched by the gesture, he really would have, if it hadn't resulted in him having to abscond from the premises and deprive him of his research.

Looking at his watch, he realized how much time had passed. That pair of ANBU were still after him no doubt. It wasn't safe for him to go back to the hot springs for a while, not without causing another scene. With the prospect of such beautiful women denied him, Jiraiya realized he might as well go to the Hokage now. He'd probably delayed himself enough as it was.

It was a slower trip to the office. Jiraiya had to make sure the pair of ANBU hadn't been following him. When he finally reached the office and opened the window, Hiruzen didn't even turn. He just exhaled another lazy set of smoke rings. "Ah, Jiraiya. So you've finally arrived."

"Okay old man, I'm here. Now what did you need to see me about?" Jiraiya asked, still unhappy about being denied one of his favorite pastimes.

Sarutobi just waved his hands, dismissing all the ANBU guards and activated the seal of silence. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.

"Sit down Jiraiya. We have much to talk about..."

* * *

It was a little while later, and Team Seven sat in the guest suite. Naruto had been out of the bathroom by the time they got back. They'd already finished lunch now. Sasuke was in a meditative position, and Kakashi was back to reading his book. Sakura sat on one end of the long sofa, engrossed in her own book from the library. Naruto was at the other end. He lay there, hands behind his head, feet propped up on the table, eyes closed. His tail swayed back and forth under him.

Sakura glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. When his face turned into a grimace, she set down her book. "What's wrong Naruto?"

"Nothing," he said, opening his eyes to look at her. "I'm just bored waiting for the old man to show, so I thought I'd see if I could pick him up. But it was somebody else coming down the hall. And I think they turned into another one."

"How do you..." she asked automatically, before the answer came to her. "Right, your senses." In her head, she knew Naruto's hearing range was higher than normal. But even knowing that, it still freaked her out a little how Naruto could just detect people like that. It was almost like he was a sensor type, like Ino's family. Another dot connected in her head. "I guess that's how you knew we were hiding under that genjutsu, huh?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I picked up your heartbeats first." He turned to his sensei before smirking. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but you'll have to try harder to hide from me."

Kakashi just grumbled.

Sakura let out a giggle. "Doesn't that get overwhelming though?"

"Not so much now. I learned how to tune a lot of stuff out." His ears twitched again. "Now he's coming."

Naruto proved to be right, because the Third knocked at the door within the next minute. Naruto had already stepped away from view of the doorway. Behind the Third was a tall man, standing taller than even Kakashi-sensei by several inches, and several pounds heavier, more if you counted the large scroll on his back. What kind of shinobi was he? If he was from the Leaf village, she couldn't tell. He didn't wear a Leaf forehead protector anywhere. Instead, he had one with horns and the word "oil". And why did he seem vaguely familiar?

 _What kind of ninja has horns on their headband?!_ cried Inner Sakura.

" _He's_ your seal expert?" asked Sasuke skeptically. "He looks more like a clown."

The taller man glared at Sasuke, speaking up before the Hokage had a chance. "Watch it kid! I'm one of the greatest ninjas in the history of this village. I am the great Jiraiya, the hermit of Mt. Myoboku! That's me, the Toad Mountain Sage!"

"Sage?" Sakura tiled her head. "You mean... like one of the Legendary Sannin, heroes of the Second Shinobi World War?! The ones who fought Hanzo of the Salamander to a draw?"

Jiraiya smiled at her, and patted her on the head. "Very good my dear. At least someone here knows me. Yes indeed, that was me. But don't worry your pretty little head. I doubt you'll ever have to fight someone as scary as Hanzo these days."

Sakura grit her teeth at the patronizing words. _I'm not a porcelain doll you ridiculous sage!_ screamed Inner Sakura.

"Yeah right. There's no way a weirdo like you is a powerful ninja!"

Jiraiya turned his head, eying a glaring Naruto. He froze for a second, before clearing his throat. "Well, you're not one to talk about weird appearances, are you kid?"

Naruto growled. "Hey, it's not like I _asked_ to look like this. Believe it!"

"Jiraiya..." came a whispered voice. Sakura looked over at her sensei. His face had lost its color and his one visible eye was locked, unblinking, on the sage.

Suddenly, Kakashi bolted forward. "You're the author of the Make Out series! I've always wanted to meet you. I love the entire series. Could sign my books?!"

Sakura did a double take. She'd never seen her sensei like this. He was acting like a complete fanboy. She honestly wasn't sure to be embarrassed or disturbed.

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, a devoted fan, eh? I'd like to sign your books. I always keep a pen on me. Let's see, where did I put it?"

"Wait," muttered Sakura. "Make Out series?" That was their sensei's favorite book. Sakura's jaw hung open. "You mean _you're_ the one that writes those raunchy books?!" she declared, ignoring the look of hurt and embarrassment on her sensei's face.

"My books aren't raunchy," argued Jiraiya. "They are fine pieces of literature meant for a sophisticated audience."

 _Yeah, right._ She knew what her sensei's book series was about alright. It wasn't hard to figure out from the name and the note about it being for 18+ people on the cover. All of Team Seven knew, even Naruto. She could only spend so long watching her sensei be so engrossed in that series before making her own inquires.

Her mother had been _furious_ at her for asking, until she'd explained why. That series was written by one of the _Sannin?_ Whatever respect she had for the man was sinking, and fast. Beside her, Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Hey," said Naruto. He sniffed the air. "How come you smell like sulfur and stuff?"

Jiraiya edged away from the boy. "What do you mean?"

Naruto sniffed him. "You smell like sulfur and minerals. It's weird."

"No I don't."

Naruto shook his head. "Not to my nose."

 _Sulfur and minerals?_ Sakura pondered the idea. Then, things added up in her head. _A sulfur and mineral smell... the content of those books... the way he's vaguely familiar..._

She screamed. "You're the creep that was spying on women in the hot springs!"

Jiraiya stiffened. "I... uh..."

The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jiraiya," he said, stretching every syllable. "I hoped you were past that."

"You mean this is a regular thing?" asked Sasuke in disbelief. "How have you not been arrested?" The Uchiha frowned. "If this is one of the best ninja in the history of the village, we're in real trouble."

"Gramps, is this guy really the one you want to trust? He's nothing but a pervy sage!" screamed Naruto.

The Hokage sighed. "Despite my former student's... _antics,_ for which we will speak later." He gave the now nervous sage a sharp look. "I have utmost confidence in his abilities. Now, with all this out of the way, I think it's best to start the examination of the seal. Wouldn't you agree Jiraiya?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Go lay down on the sofa kid."

Naruto gave the man a skeptical look, but did as he was told. Sakura got up to get a better look at the procedure.

"Now, I want you to build up some chakra. It doesn't have to be a lot."

"Why?"

"Just do it kid."

"Fine, fine," replied Naruto. He closed his eyes, and soon after, black lines appeared on his stomach, forming into shapes, swirls and characters that projected themselves over his red coat. Sakura took a step closer.

"What is that?" asked Sasuke beside her. He'd turned on his Sharingan, no doubt to examine the jutsu in better detail.

"That would be the seal holding the Nine Tails," answered Jiraiya. His demeanor had shifted into something far more serious. Sakura would have almost thought he seemed like a different person.

Jiraiya was silent as he looked over the seal, his face unreadable. A tension descended on the room. That little collection of lines was the only thing separating them from a creature of massive destructive power. If it was damaged in any way, they were all in a great deal of danger, especially Naruto.

The sage's brow furrowed before he got up and spoke. "Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the seal is completely stable, if a little loose. The Nine Tailed Fox is in no danger of escaping."

Sakura felt a wave of relief. But one question still hung in the air. Her sensei asked it before she got the chance.

"And what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that I have no idea why this happened. Like I said, the seal is perfectly normal. I don't see a thing wrong with it."

"But you said it was loose," she said.

"That _is_ normal for this type of seal after all this time, but it's still totally stable, and that's especially not something that would result in _this._ "

"Oh that's just great," said Naruto as he sat up. "So you have no clue how to make me human?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Not right now. I'll have to do a little more research on these types of seals and see if I can come up with something."

"Great. So now what am I supposed to do?"

"Hmm, bored are you?" asked the Hokage. He smiled knowingly. "I think I have a solution for that."

He walked across the room to a spot a few feet to the right of the bedroom and bathroom doors, and slid away a square shaped piece of the wall. There was the sound of a switch being pulled, and suddenly, a much larger section of wall opened up, revealing a long, dark passage. Everyone stared, even Jiraiya. Naruto bolted to his feet in amazement.

The Hokage stepped into the corridor. "Follow me."

* * *

As they entered, the Hokage flipped a switch, and lights filled the passage. Sakura's eyes adjusted to the light level as she observed the passage. Dirt and dust clung to the walls, and above them, spider webs covered the ceiling. A cloud of dust kicked up under her shoes, and she let out a sneeze.

"Forgive the state of the passage," said the Hokage. "It's been a long time since it and the room you are have been used." He frowned at the dim lamps. "And it seems the lighting here is not in as good a condition as I originally thought."

"It's not bothering me," said Naruto. Sakura looked over at him. His eyes had already changed into their night vision state.

"How is it not-" Jiraiya started, only to look at Naruto and pause. "What the...?"

"It's eyeshine," answered Sasuke.

Sakura suppressed a giggle at the older man's confusion, and just shrugged. "You get used to it."

The Toad Sage blinked rapidly. "Uh... Since when was there a secret passage around here?"

"Since its construction," answered the Hokage as the walkway slanted downwards. "Secret passages are essential tools in case escape is necessary."

Finally, they came to a stop, and the older man pulled another switch. A door opened, and everyone found themselves in a large training area with a high ceiling. Various pieces of ninja equipment were scattered around the room, all of it looking new and gleaming.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"This is a private training room under the residence. It was created with the passage to allow foreign guests the chance to practice their jutsu without worrying about prying eyes" answered the Hokage. Once again he took on the air of his nickname, The Professor. "There are a handful of rooms such as these. Several of our own ninja, including myself, have used them from time to time. In addition, they could also serve as shelters due to their reinforced walls, a requirement considering the destructive nature of some of our own techniques." The Hokage turned to Naruto. "I'm sure this will alleviate some of your boredom."

"I'm sure it will," piped in Kakashi. "In fact, since we're here, why don't the three of you do some training?"

"Sure," said Sasuke, walking up to the center of the training area.

"Actually," said Jiraiya. "I have a suggestion, if you don't mind. How about if I spar with the brats?"

Sakura's mouth hung open. "What?"

"With all due respect, I think that might be a bit much," countered Kakashi.

"It's fine," replied the Toad Sage with a wave of his hand. "All three of them can come at me at once. And all they'll have to do is knock me down. They can even use whatever they want."

"I'm not sure this is wise Jiraiya," admitted the Hokage. "They are all still genin."

"Fine, I won't even attack. Just counter. I think those are reasonable conditions." He turned and grinned at the genin. "Unless you brats don't think you can handle that."

"Fine by me," growled Naruto. "I still don't buy you being all that great Pervy Sage."

"Stop calling me that!" fired back Jiraiya.

"I'm in," added Sasuke.

Sakura was a little more uncertain. Inner Sakura was screaming. _Let's smash this creep's face in!_ And Sakura wanted to do that too for his stunt at the hot springs and his patronizing tone. But at the same time, he was a legendary ninja. This could end badly, _very_ badly. But since the rest of her team was going for it, she decided she should join too. "Me three."

The three stood across from Jiraiya before Kakashi signaled them to start. She and Sasuke moved first, getting in close. Sakura threw a chakra-enhanced punch, while Sasuke went for a high kick. The Toad Sage caught her fist easily, and used his forearm to block Sasuke.

He looked Sakura in the eyes, a grin across his face. "Not bad Pinky, but you're going to have to try harder than that." He looked up at Sasuke. "You too kid."

Sakura just grit her teeth again. She _hated_ when people called her Pinky.

Suddenly, Naruto came from behind, ready to land a blow of his own. Jiraiya pushed both Sakura and Sasuke across the room, much to their surprise. Whirling around, he caught Naruto's arm and threw him over his shoulder to join his teammates in a heap.

"Ow," groaned Naruto. "Didn't expect him to react that fast."

"Guess he's not as much of a clown as he looks," muttered Sasuke.

"Maybe we should try a ranged attack?" offered Sakura.

Naruto grinned, grabbing the bow and arrows off a rack of weapons. "Ready."

Sasuke and Sakura drew kunai and shuriken. They rushed the sage, circling around to attack from multiple angles, launching their weapons all at once.

"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!" The sage's hair grew, wrapping around him. Their weapons deflected harmlessly off the protective barrier.

Frustrated, Sasuke grabbed another weapon. "Demon Wind Shuriken!" But even that clattered to the floor.

Jiraiya drew back the barrier. "Ha! Not so easy, is it kid? Maybe now you brats will give some respect to the great Toad Sage!"

Sasuke glared at the sage. He made a series of familiar hand signs, and both Sakura and Naruto back away, and Sakura steeled herself for what she knew was coming.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Jiraiya's eyes widened at the massive fireball headed in his direction. Quickly, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. Placing it on the ground, he made a lightning fast series of seals. "Sealing Jutsu: Fire Seal."

Chakra came out from the scroll, and suddenly the fireball was pulled into the scroll, disappearing harmlessly as if it hadn't even existed. The three genin stood there, stunned.

Jiraiya grinned as he picked up the scroll and put it away. "Always pays to have that prepared, especially when fighting an Uchiha. So, do you three give up?"

"Nothing we do gets through," growled Sasuke.

"Maybe if we distract him, his guard might go down," whispered Sakura.

"How do we do that?"

"I think... I have an idea," said Naruto.

"Well, whatever it is, it's got to be worth a shot," replied Sasuke.

Naruto nodded. "Let me try it first. Get ready to attack if it works."

Naruto ran towards Jiraiya. Sakura wondered what the fox-boy had in mind. Jiraiya himself narrowed his eyes, ready for another attack. Naruto made a ram seal. "Transform!"

And he turned into... the girl from his Sexy Jutsu, complete with the long blonde pigtails and censoring clouds. "Hey Mister Jiraiya, over here," the girl cooed.

Sakura's jaw went slack, and her hand curled into a fist. Of all the things that made her feel nostalgic about Naruto lately, that stupid technique of his _wasn't_ one of them. _That can't work..._

The Toad Sage's face lit up like a miniature sun. "Wh-What a babe!"

 _It actually worked?!_ On the side of the field, she noticed the Hokage and her sensei staring with equally distracted expressions. Except they had the decency to try and hide it. _Men._

"Idiot technique or not, it worked," Sasuke said, shaking her from her thoughts. "We need to move now. Same attack pattern as last time. I'll go high, you go low."

Sakura nodded, charging with Sasuke toward the still captivated sage. This was probably their only chance here. _Need to give it everything I've got._ Pulling her arm back, she poured all her chakra into her fist. It glowed as she threw the punch right into the older man's abdomen.

Jiraiya hadn't been paying attention to the blow, and gasped as all the air was knocked out his lungs. He staggered backwards. But it still wasn't enough. Sasuke struck next, this time successfully landing a hard kick to his face. Jiraiya staggered even more.

Naruto, who had been frowning at this point from Jiraiya's attention, dispersed the jutsu and rushed forward, slamming his elbow into Jiraiya before sweeping his legs under the man's feet, and following it with a kick to the chest for extra measure. The legendary ninja crashed to the floor like a chopped down tree.

The Toad Sage sat up, holding his head. "Ugh."

"Hey, Pervy Sage," said Naruto with a grin. "We win."

Jiraiya glared at the three genin. "I really hate you brats."

Suddenly, they were all drawn by the Hokage's laughter. "It seems as though they managed to outsmart you Jiraiya. An excellent use of teamwork and innovative thinking." The older man walked back towards the passage. "Now if you excuse me, I must return to my office."

He opened the doorway, but before he left, he turned back around. "Oh, and Naruto, there's one thing I forgot to tell you."

"What's that?"

The old man smiled. "Welcome home, Naruto."

* * *

Sakura came by Naruto's room the next day. Today was one of those days where Kakashi-sensei helped Sasuke train with his Sharingan. Since her teacher was completely occupied doing that, he usually let her do whatever she wanted, and she frequently turned it into a day off.

Entering the guest suite, she found it totally empty. "Naruto?"

The bed looked like a tornado hit it, and the kitchenette contained used dishes covered in the remains of instant ramen, and one apple core in the trash. He'd definitely been here. But her hybrid teammate was still nowhere among the rooms. Seeing no other option, she opened up the passage and went right to the training room, taking out her flashlight to supplement the dim lights.

Sure enough, she found Naruto down there. In fact, she saw multiples of Naruto there. One was armed with the bow, and the others were tossing up makeshift targets into the air. The one with the bow kept hitting bullseyes.

The minute she closed the door, Naruto looked back, and the arrow he fired missed the target. Naruto frowned at it before dismissing the shadow clones. "Morning Sakura."

"Morning. Did you sleep well?"

Naruto nodded vigorously as he set down the bow. "Oh yeah. He stretched his back before putting his hands behind his head. "It was nice to sleep on a bed again, and not one with a spring poking my back." He looked past her. "Where are the others?"

"Kakashi-sensei is training Sasuke with his Sharingan today."

"Oh."

Do you do that a lot?" she pointed at the targets. "Hitting things in the air I mean?"

"Oh yeah, lots." Naruto sat down now, picking up a water bottle and taking a long sip. "Don't usually use shadow clones for it though."

Sakura sat down next to him, tilting her head. "Why haven't you been using your shadow clones much anyway?"

Naruto averted his gaze. "I... kinda don't like looking at myself all that much..."

Sakura felt a stab at her heart. Of course. It made so much sense. Trying to find a way to divert the topic, she came to a new question. "If you didn't use your shadow clones to throw those targets, how did you do it before?"

"I rigged up a catapult. It broke though. I was actually coming back to fix it right when you guys found me." He chuckled.

"You made one all by yourself? I'm impressed."

"Thanks," replied Naruto with a blush. All the sudden, his stomach let out a huge growl. "I'm hungry."

"Here Naruto, you can have these." She pulled her bag closer and pulled out a box, opening it up to reveal a collection of dark chocolates.

Naruto's head tilted. "Why do you have these?"

"Ino. She ran into me this morning and said some admirer gave her these. She said she didn't want to ruin her figure with them so she dumped them all on me."

"Thanks Sakura." He took a piece and swallowed, following it up with another and then another after that. "Chocolate's just as good as I remember it."

"Slow down or you'll choke Naruto. And remember to save some for me" she said as he took out four more pieces at once.

The fox-boy swallowed another piece and blushed again, looking down at the significant dent he'd made in the contents. "Sorry."

Stretching her legs, Sakura got up. "Hey, are you up to sparring?"

Naruto nodded, having eaten several more of the candies. "Sure."

The two faced each other before charging. Sakura moved in close, throwing punches. But Naruto just backed out of the way. Sometimes he even went right over her head. She turned to find him throwing a punch of his own, and put up her arms to block before launching a counterattack. He took the hit this time, but just moved backwards, pulling away and out of her range. He seemed to like pushing his speed and agility to their full advantage, especially in short range fights like this.

Sakura put on a burst of speed, catching up to him. She swung a few more times, pushing him further backwards towards the wall before swinging once more with her right arm. Naruto ducked, slipping completely around her.

"Too slow Sakura," he said, smirking as he moved back toward the center.

Sakura just narrowed her eyes and came at him again. He dodged her latest series of punches. On the last one, he stumbled a bit, and Sakura took the opening in his guard to land a chakra-enhanced punch to his abdomen.

Naruto fell to the ground with a thud. "Ow..."

Sakura held out her hand. "You okay Naruto?"

"Yeah," said the boy with a pant as he took her hand. "I think so. You're really getting better with those punches."

"Thanks."

As Naruto sat down on a bench, Sakura went over to one of the fountains to refill the water bottle she'd brought. "Hey Naruto, do you want some water?" she called back. When she didn't get an answer, she turned back around. "Naruto?"

Naruto was sitting there, hands on his stomach, breathing heavily. Sakura went over to his side. "Naruto? Are you okay?"

"Sakura, I-I don't feel so good." His was practically hyperventilating. "Stomach."

"Your stomach?" Had she hit him too hard? She hadn't thought so. Her punches had never managed to cause real internal damage before. "Is it in pain?"

"Y-yeah. And my h-heart. It's beating... so fast. I-" Before he could finished the sentence, the boy bent forward and retched all over the floor. Sakura jumped back to avoid getting splashed.

Naruto tried to stand, but he lacked the coordination, only managing to sit back down and then slip off the seat, moving to the floor, balanced on all fours. His limbs were trembling, muscles shaking involuntarily.

"Naruto! Naruto, what's wrong? Talk to me."

"I really... don't... feel... good Sakura" he muttered. Looking closely at him, she thought she could see the skin under his fur turning blue. The fox-boy collapsed to the floor.

"Naruto! Naruto get up!" He wouldn't respond. His eyes were open, at least half way, but he was breathing just as heavily, body still twitching all over.

This couldn't be happening. Not again. _What can I do? He's too heavy to carry. What's even wrong with him?! Don't die Naruto. You can't die. We just found you, we can't lose you again!_

Her eyes searched the room frantically, falling at last on the passage. Without another thought, she opened the door and ran through the dark tunnel, her words echoing off the walls.

"HELP! Somebody please _help!_ "

* * *

Author's Note: I am so sorry it took so long. So many scenes, and so many rewrites, not to mention life stuff.

And now, I'd like to make fanfic recommendations. I have a soft spot for time travel stories, particularly ones with Sakura. I think the first stories that I ever read on that subject were "The Beginning Again" and "After the Fall" by Insane Romantic.

They are here on FF. "After the Fall" is a rewrite of The Beginning Again. Sadly, both are incomplete, but what is there is still very much worth reading. So check them out.

And another story (again, Sakura time travel) I'd like to recommend right now is "How Long is Forever?" by aoutrance on AO3 (on FF, it's "tradition"). It's not complete, and it hasn't been updated in a while, and I truly hope the author completes it. This too is SO worth reading. When I found it, I couldn't stop re-reading it again and again, day after day. It is that engaging.


	8. The Two Doctors

Author's Note: No, not THAT Doctor. Naruto's universe is insane enough without his usual antics added in. Also, why do my chapters keep getting longer every time? Also, my timeline alterations come into play here with regards to the wars. That's really the big problem point for canon anyway. They're not huge changes, but I did tinker with some elements to make everything fit together better.

Guest from chapter 7: Thank you for your response. The idea of using fuuinjutsu was actually something that hadn't really occurred to me. Do you mind if I took that suggestion? I'm not sure if I'll use it, and I'd have to come up with something myself (as I have no ideas for that) but I'd like to keep that possibility open if I could.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I am just a fan.

Chapter 8: The Two Doctors

It was ten minutes before Sakura found Jiraiya outside the Hokage residence. She'd frantically grabbed his hand, pulling him to the suite, not caring how he protested. When she'd managed to get out that Naruto was sick, the Toad Sage had turned a shade paler.

They'd rushed to the training room. Naruto wasn't in any better condition. He'd still been shaking, hands over his beating heart, and he seemed to have vomited again. The older man had picked up the boy and took him back to the suite before summoning a bunch of toads to fetch her teammates and the Hokage.

They were all standing in Naruto's bedroom now. The fox-boy was laid out on the bed, still breathing heavily. His tongue was hanging far out of his mouth, dripping saliva.

"What's wrong with him?!" screamed Jiraiya.

"Do you think his body just isn't holding together?" asked Sasuke. Sakura shot him an angry look, but Sasuke shrugged and gave her his own look, one of _it had to be asked._

"That may be too big of a leap for right this moment," answered the Hokage.

"Sakura," asked her sensei, "What were you doing with Naruto before he got like this?"

"Not that much," she answered. "Naruto was doing target practice when got here. We talked, and he was hungry, so I gave him some chocolates Ino passed off on me. Then we sparred for a bit. After we stopped, I was getting some more water and he was suddenly in pain."

"With how he is right now, I'd almost think it's a case of poisoning," said Jiraiya.

"Poison" whispered Kakashi. "Sakura, let me see those chocolates."

Without protest, she reached into her bag and pulled out the box. Kakashi took one look at it and his visible eye widened about as far as it could go. "Sakura, was he the only one to eat from this box?" She nodded, and his face lost some of its color. "If I'm right, it _was_ poison."

"Poison?!" cried Sakura. "How?"

"I don't have time to explain," answered Kakashi briskly. He glanced at Naruto again. The boy was groaning and shifting on the bed, drinking deeply from a glass of water Sasuke had gotten, and spilling much of the contents with his unsteady grip. "We need a doctor _right now._ Sakura, go get Hana Inuzuka." He looked at the Hokage. "With your permission?" The elder man just nodded.

"But what's wrong with Naruto-" she started.

"We really don't have time Sakura. He needs to see a doctor as soon as possible." He placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Just tell her theobromine, and to pack everything."

At the mention of the word, Sasuke's face lit up with enlightenment. What was she missing? She wanted to stay and ask more questions, to understand what this was. But when Naruto's arms suddenly spasmed, making him let out a sharp scream, she knew she couldn't. Without any other protest, she ran out into the streets of Konoha.

The whole way, her mind was racing, synapses firing in a miniature lightning storm. From the minute she'd yelled for help in the dim passage, it was like her nightmares all over again. She thought she'd be free of them when they'd found Naruto. But the images, the panic, the feeling of helplessness, watching as her dream-formed teammate screamed in agony until nothing was left, it was all hitting her again.

How had Naruto been poisoned? From what her sensei had said, it seemed like it had been the chocolates. Had someone found out about Naruto? She understood now the depth of hatred centered on her teammate. Had someone slipped something into those chocolates, hoping he'd eat them?

He did have a big appetite, and while his favorite food was still ramen, he'd never been averse to eating chocolate when offered. And to a potential poisoner, it was probably a safe bet to lace chocolate if your target was a kid.

But they'd been meant for _Ino._ Had the Yamanaka heir been the intended victim instead? In a moment of chilling clarity, it truly dawned on Sakura that her friend, being from a prominent clan, was a prime assassination target. Fear stabbed at chest. She had to warn her!

 _No,_ responded the more logical part of her brain. _The bigger priority is Naruto right now. He's the one that's actually poisoned._ Her sensei had told her to say "theobromine". What was it? Sakura didn't know enough about chemistry and poisons to be sure. Whatever it was, it was _killing_ Naruto. And she wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't let that happen.

The veterinary clinic came into view, and Sakura picked up speed, bursting through the door. Hana was, thankfully, alone and not attending a patient. The Inuzuka woman looked up at her in surprise. "Hello Sakura. What are you doing here?"

"No time! You need to come with me right now."

Hana came out from behind her work desk. "What's going on?"

Sakura's panic was rising again, and her words came out in a flood. "Poison. Theobromine. It's bad. Kakashi-sensei said you should pack everything. Please, hurry."

The vet's eyes widened at the words, and with a nod she grabbed several items from her shelves, stuffing them into a bag. "Lead the way."

Sakura bolted out the door. _Hang on Naruto. Help is on the way._

* * *

The day had started out quiet for Hana Inuzuka. In fact, her days were usually pretty quiet. Despite her status as a chunin, the Hokage rarely assigned her missions, letting her simply stick to her veterinary work. In the five years she'd been a vet, most of the animals she treated ended up being civilian pets.

To the Inuzuka clan, the lack of popularity for animal helpers among other ninja was met with mixed feelings. On one paw, there was disappointment, since they knew exactly what trained animals could do. But on the other paw, it meant they had less competition. It was too bad the military police weren't still around. Her mother had been advocating so hard for the Inuzukas to join their ranks, along with their dogs.

But the eighteen year old's quiet routine was interrupted when Sakura Haruno burst into her clinic.

She didn't really know Sakura personally. Hana had talked to her a little bit in those early days when she'd picked her brother up from class. She seemed like a nice enough girl. Although from what Hana had gathered, she wasn't all that great a ninja at the academy, more fixated on a schoolgirl crush and getting by because of immensely high test scores.

Hana had seen the girl during the search for her teammate. The Hokage had requested the use of their family's dogs to scour the village. Really, Hana had felt bad for Sakura then. She'd looked absolutely destroyed.

Hana knew the girl had needed a wakeup call. But it seemed cruel for it to end up being something as drawn out as that, wondering every day for a week whether her teammate was dead or not. It was like an extended version of someone sitting in a waiting room for a loved one's dire surgery, an ultimately failed surgery.

Over the months, Hana had heard that the younger kunoichi was making impressive strides in her ninja training, both in passing remarks from Kiba, and from Kakashi whenever he brought his dogs by. But the elder Inuzuka hadn't actually seen her since the failed search, aside from passing glances at a distance.

Hana took the opportunity to take in her appearance now. She noted the much shorter hair, and the greater muscle definition on the girl's arms. Her expression is what caught her attention most however. Right then, Sakura seemed as serious as Hana had ever seen her, determination mixed with a level of panic she was trying very hard to keep under control. The powerful smell of adrenaline wafting off her was unmistakable.

At the word _theobromine,_ she knew the sort of problem Sakura had. A request to _pack everything_ from the girl's sensei told her even more. Hana gathered her supplies quickly into a medical bag, placing some of the larger items in a storage scroll before following the girl out into Konoha.

She wondered what it was. It wasn't likely to be Kiba or Akamaru. Her baby brother didn't always make the best decisions, but even he wasn't foolish enough to let something like that happen. And if he had, he knew how to deal with it. Furthermore, if he _had_ been involved, she would have expected his own teammates to have gotten her.

Had the pink-haired girl gotten a pet? Hana was fairly certain she didn't have one. She'd never come in, and there weren't many veterinary clinics in Konoha. A neighbor then?

Her curiosity was further raised when, instead of a house, Sakura took her to the Hokage residence. She slowed down a bit as they entered, but still kept a quick pace as she navigated the halls. Hana didn't bother asking questions. She got the feeling that Sakura wouldn't answer them yet.

Finally they stopped at the disused guest section of the mansion, and Hana's eyebrows shot up. When they entered one of the rooms, Hana was met with the rest of Team Seven, a strange older shinobi she didn't recognize, and the Third Hokage himself.

She bowed. "Lord Third, what's going on?"

"We have need of your services Hana, for a most classified and special patient." He directed her to an open doorway.

Her nose was assaulted by a strange scent, mixed together with the smell of lingering vomit. Her eyes fell on the thing in the bed, and Hana's brain froze. "What?"

Hana listened as the Hokage gave her an explanation, about Naruto holding the Nine Tails, and about his current state. She could tell it was abbreviated, but she was thankful. She was trying her hardest to process what information he _did_ give her. A part of her wished it had been about her brother instead. She was feeling very out of her depth right now.

"Hana," said the Hokage, breaking her out of her thoughts. "He needs your help."

Sakura's words flashed back to the front of her memory. _Theobromine._ She nodded her head, focusing her mind. The Hokage was giving her an order. "Yes, sir." She walked over to the bedside, examining Naruto's twisted form, concentrating on the vulpine features, and imagining him as a simple, if oversized, fox. "What does he weigh?"

"About ninety pounds I think," replied Kakashi as he came up next to her.

"And what exactly did he eat?"

"These." The copy ninja handed her a box of dark chocolates. "The box was untouched before he got to it."

Hana's eyes went wide at the sight. She counted all the empty spaces in the box factored in the seeming weight of each piece, and did some mental calculations. The results left her aghast. "He ate _all that?!_ It's a miracle he isn't dead." She didn't have any time to waste. "I take it he's already thrown up?"

"Twice, at the least," replied Sasuke. "He's been having muscle spasms on and off too, and he's shaking sometimes."

She looked Naruto over, pressing a stethoscope to his chest. _Tachycardia, cyanosis, and he's already progressed to spasms and tremors. This isn't good._ "He's going to do it again. Go get me a bucket, or a trash can, any kind of container. If there's any poison left in his stomach, we need to get it out, and _now._ "

Sasuke went off to get what she needed, and she pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide solution from her bag and drew some into an oral syringe. When Sasuke returned, she set the bucket down and gently lifted the boy's head. "Naruto, this is going to taste bad, but it's for your own good, okay? It's going to make you throw up. Don't fight it."

He didn't say anything. He was disoriented, which didn't surprise her. She squirted the liquid down his throat, and aimed his head into the bucket, letting him expel whatever was left in his stomach. She let Naruto lie back down. He was still breathing heavily. Feeling his forehead, he seemed to have a slight fever. She used a second oral syringe to give him a dose from a different bottle.

"What is that for?" asked the older ninja. He smelled like hot springs and toads, lots of toads. A summoner maybe? She'd heard of toad summoners, but she'd never met one.

"Activated charcoal. It's to stop anything else in his system from being absorbed" she told him.

Sakura came up beside Naruto, taking his hand. "Rest Naruto, we got the poison out." Her grip tightened. "You'll be okay now."

"S-Sakura?" whispered the boy. He looked at her with tired, unfocused eyes. "Where a-am I... smell... I can't... c-can't... why..." Naruto's body started to shake. Arms and legs shot out violently, trembling uncontrollably.

Sakura's arms shot out in front of her in protection as Naruto's hand lashed out at her. "Naruto!"

" _Now_ what's happening?" screamed the toad summoner. "That just made him worse!"

Hana cursed under her breath, moving backwards to avoid a thrashing leg. This was worse than a muscle spasm or tremor. "It wasn't me, it's the poison. It's causing a _seizure,_ " she hissed. The vomiting and charcoal hadn't been enough. He'd already absorbed too much of the toxins into his blood. She was hoping to _avoid_ the symptoms progressing this far.

This was getting very bad. The longer a seizure went on, the more a normal canine could overheat. Most didn't last longer than a minute or two, but sometimes they did, and you were in serious trouble if they went past five minutes or if they kept coming. Personally, Hana didn't want to wait and find out how this would go.

Diving back into her bag once again, she pulled out a syringe. She needed a place to use it. The thigh would work. Large area, less likely to hit a nerve. "Everyone, I need you to try and hold him still. I need to get to his thigh. Don't pin him down though, or he could hurt himself."

Everyone, even the Third, tried to hold the boy steady. The toad summoner ninja grabbed the fox-boy's tail. "Naruto, you need to stop." He gave a tug, which elicited a powerful shriek.

"Don't pull his tail!" yelled Sasuke as he tried to steady one of Naruto's legs. "That will only make him worse."

The seizure was getting more violent by the second. Hana tore at the left pants leg with a kunai, making an opening. She could have gone through it with the needle, but she couldn't take the chance of infection. Naruto had enough problems right now without adding more.

She loaded the syringe with the contents of another bottle before searching for a usable vein. By now she knew the location of animal veins without even bothering to look. But for the first time in years, doubt was poking at her like the needle in her hand. This thigh wasn't like the one's she'd worked with. Finally finding one, she jammed it into the muscle. Naruto let out another scream of pain.

Within a minute, the seizure stopped, and the boy settled back down on the bed. Hana felt a drop of sweat trail down her forehead. _That's one major problem taken care of._

The next step was the heart. She pressed her stethoscope to his chest again. It was still beating out of control. She slipped a pill down Naruto's mouth. Thankfully, he was too tired to fight it, unlike some of her other patients where she had to shove it past the gag reflex.

Taking a deep breath, she ran a hand through her hair before picking up her storage scroll and bringing out an IV stand and a bag. She looked up to address the group of ninja. "You can all wait outside now. I won't be much longer."

Once they were gone, she looked over the tired, barely conscious Naruto. "You'll be alright kid."

The fox-boy turned to look at her, eyes only half open. "Thanks," he croaked.

Despite everything so far, it still took Hana by surprise. She wasn't used to her patients talking back. Even among their ninja hounds, talking was rare. She'd been trying so hard with her triplets for years, with limited success. It was one reason why the Inuzuka somewhat envied Kakashi's pack. Not that Hana would trade her boys for anything on Earth. "You're welcome."

She hooked the stand into Naruto's arm. He grimaced as the needle went in. "Don't pull this out, okay?"

"'Kay. Could you turn off the lights? Tired..."

Hana smiled. "Sure."

As she got up and switched off the lights, she couldn't help but notice the sudden green glow in his eyes and the giant pupils. _Tapetum lucidum._

She shut the door behind her before looking at the assembled ninja. "He's sleeping now, and out of danger." A wave of relief passed over the three adults.

Sakura stood up, still looking every bit as shaken as before. "I don't understand. What was that? What's theobromine? Did someone really poison those chocolates?" She turned to her sensei. "Sensei, shouldn't we warn Ino? She gave them to me, she could be in danger."

"Sakura," Hana said, getting the girl's attention. The vet shook her head. "No one poisoned those chocolates Sakura. The chocolates _were_ the poison."

"Huh?"

"You've never had a pet, have you Sakura, a dog or cat?" The girl shook her head, confirming Hana's suspicions. "Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine. Dogs, cats, and foxes too, they don't process those things as quickly as humans. In fact, they're quite slow at it. It's easier for it to back up inside the body and cause an overdose. That's basically what happened to Naruto.

"The darker the chocolate, like the ones he ate, the more theobromine and caffeine are in them. Chocolate can easily be a toxic substance for dogs, sometimes lethal. That's why I tell every new owner that comes to me never to feed it to their pets."

Sakura's legs shook, and she slowly sat back down, head in her hands. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know..."

"It's alright. He's still alive. But he's going to need a lot of rest. I'd suggest keeping him in bed for the next 72 hours. The IV I gave him will restore some of his lost fluids, and more importantly, it'll help flush the remaining toxin out of his body. I brought a couple bags with me, but I'll need to bring more. He's going to be hooked to it for a while. They'll need to be changed every four to eight hours.

"And someone is going to need to be watching him. He'll need to use the bathroom a lot, and the IV can't be disconnected, so you may need to help him move with it. Most importantly, don't ever let the bags go dry. If they do, air could get into his blood and that's as potentially lethal as the chocolate."

She looked at Kakashi. "Do you know how to change the IV bags if I'm not here?"

The jonin nodded. "I think so. I've helped a few times at the hospital."

"I'll go over it with you before I leave."

She turned to the older ninja. "How about you?"

The man shook his head. "You'll have to show me too." Then pinched his nose. "All this trouble over simple chocolates..."

"Thank you for your assistance Hana," said the Hokage. "I dread to think what would have happened if you hadn't been here. We are all in your debt."

Hana stood stunned. The Hokage was in the debt of a _chunin?_ "T-Thank you, Lord Hokage."

"This entire event does make something very clear however," he continued. "While we know that Naruto's form has changed, it seems that we, myself included, did not truly grasp the depth of the change. Jiraiya, are you any closer to discovering the cause of Naruto's mutation?"

 _Jiraiya?_ Hana turned her full attention to the red-clad shinobi now. He was one of the Legendary Sannin? She'd been right about him being a toad summoner after all. He certainly didn't look the part. But being a ninja was one part deception.

The man shook his head. "No, I'm not. I've started to make inquiries, but I haven't gotten anything back yet."

Hiruzen nodded. "We don't know how long it may take to resolve Naruto's situation. In light of his numerous physiological differences, it seems appropriate to me to have a doctor begin examining him and monitor his health, to establish a baseline, not unlike what is done for a new bloodline limit. Hana, I would like you to take up this task."

Hana's eyes widened. "I... Lord Hokage, sir... I..." The Hokage was personally requesting her help? This was the sort of thing many ninja dreamed of. She was about to say yes, when she thought back on Naruto, everything she'd seen when she'd examined him.

She remembered those eyes, those all too human looking eyes, yet still weren't human. She remembered the shape of the limbs, the hands and feet. The vet shook her head. "Lord Hokage, I'm truly honored you want me to do this. As a loyal Konoha ninja, I will do whatever I can to serve this village. But I'm afraid I can't do as you ask."

The Professor raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"But you're a medic-nin!" cried Sakura. "How can you say no?!"

"There's something you're overlooking," she replied. "I'm not saying no exactly. Yes, I'm a medic-nin. But my specialty is veterinary medicine. Naruto _is_ part fox. He has a fox's sensitivity to chocolate, and even their eye mechanisms. But he's not entirely a fox. His eyes still look human. He still has an anthropoid shape, and that's just for a start. The human traits he still has are as unknown as the vulpine ones. My knowledge of human medicine is limited to what applies for both people and animals."

She turned to face the Hokage. "Lord Hokage, sir, I agree that he needs to be examined and monitored. A baseline needs to be established to know what's normal for him and what's not. I know what I can do. I'm very good at that. But he's still partly human, and I'm afraid that I'd be unable to do a proper examination all on my own. I can work with him and provide input from a veterinary perspective, but I'm going to need a human doctor to work with."

The Hokage nodded. "You raise a valid argument Hana." He paused, seeming to weight options in his head. "In that case, I believe it's time to call in Tsunade."

"T-Tsunade?!" Veterinary specialist or not, Hana knew the name. She'd heard it again and again during her studies in the medical corps. Medics spoke of her more like she was a patron goddess than a human being.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Tsunade? You really think she'll come back? How are you even going to find her?"

"I heard reports of someone vaguely like her while I was tracking you down. I'll be following up on them. And while I am not completely certain I can convince her, she is still the best qualified and most trusted doctor I know." He turned back to Hana, giving her an amused smile. "If I can get her to agree, would that be acceptable to you, Hana?"

"I... of course, Lord Hokage."

"Good. Kakashi, once I have located her, I would like you and your team to bring her back."

"Why don't I go?" suggested Jiraiya. "I know her better."

"True. But you need to continue seeking answers to Naruto's condition. Hana, I do not wish to keep you from your clinic more than necessary. Again, I thank you for your assistance, and I must remind you that all of this is the most guarded of secrets. Only one other person outside this room, Iruka Umino, knows about this. You cannot tell anyone, even your clan. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

With some final pleasantries and a quick demonstration of changing the IV bag, Hana packed up her things and walked back to her clinic. Her brain was so flooded with recent events, she felt like she was at the bottom of a sea trench. Naruto was alive. He contained the Nine Tails. He'd turned into something like the Nine Tails. She'd met Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. Hana, a chunin, was involved in a secret that was probably A-ranked, or even _S-ranked._

And now she'd possibly be working with Tsunade. Hana wondered if this was how Akamaru felt as a puppy when they'd introduced him to all their other dogs. Incredibly tiny, surrounded by things all bigger and stronger, and totally overwhelmed.

She opened up the door to her clinic, and her boys greeted her with wagging tails. She bent down to pet them. "Sorry about leaving so suddenly boys. Big emergency."

The three responded by licking her face. She laughed taking comfort in their affection. "Wish I could tell you about it, but I can't" she told them, running her fingers through their coats. Their tails dropped in unison. "Sorry. It's confidential. But don't you worry, I'll be fine."

Hana got up, letting the brothers out back to run around. "Guess I won't be wishing for excitement for a while" she muttered.

* * *

The following afternoon, Sakura came by the suite to check on Naruto. They'd decided on taking turns keeping him company. Guilt weighed down on her heart like a rusty iron chain. She'd almost killed him. He'd had a seizure. Naruto was her age. Someone her age shouldn't be having seizures. But he did, and it was all because of her.

She'd wanted a new start with Naruto, a chance to make up for treating him so badly. She'd almost lost it in less than a _week._ She was so pathetic.

Naruto was where he was supposed to be, lying in bed. Hana was there, fiddling with the IV.

"Hello Sakura," greeted the medic. "I'm just changing the bag."

Sakura gave her a wave. "Hi Hana." She turned to her teammate. "Hi Naruto."

"Hey Sakura," he replied, now wide awake. He sniffed the air. "I am smelling what I think I am?"

Sakura held up a container. "Yup. Ramen from Ichiraku. I thought you'd like it for lunch."

She was about to hand the box to Naruto, when Hana stopped her. "Actually, I'm not sure that's a good idea right now."

"Oh come on!" complained Naruto. "Why not?"

"You're still recovering. You should take it easy on your stomach for a while. Restaurant ramen is too heavy for you to be eating. You'll have to stick with the instant stuff."

Naruto frowned. "Says the one that made it for me this morning. It tasted burned. How do you even _do_ that?"

Hana blushed. "Okay, so I'm not all that good of a cook. But I'm not budging here Naruto. You need to be gentle on your stomach."

Naruto just grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's okay Naruto," consoled Sakura. "I'll just make some of the instant stuff for you."

"In any case, I'll be going now," said the vet. She turned to face Sakura, and took the container from her. "Sorry, but I don't want him to try sneaking it in."

Naruto frowned even deeper, and Sakura just nodded. "I understand. And thank you for all your help."

Hana just smiled. "No problem."

The minute she left, Sakura looked at her now empty hands and sighed. She went to the kitchenette and opened one of the plethora of instant ramen cans. _So much for an apology gift. I should have thought of that._ Her own mother had told her the same thing when she gotten stomach viruses as a child. Why didn't it dawn on her? Hopefully Hana would either eat it herself or find someone who would so it wouldn't go to complete waste.

Setting the now heated food on a tray, she brought it back to a still unhappy Naruto. "Here you go Naruto."

"Thanks," he said slowly. From the look in his eyes, he was still picturing the bigger, heartier meal he'd been denied.

She sat there in silence while he ate, which wasn't long. Despite Hana's orders, Naruto was practically inhaling his food. _The same way he practically inhaled those chocolates._ Sakura's chest tightened at the memory.

"Hey Sakura, are you okay?" Naruto looked over at her with concern. He was practically done with his lunch, only tiny scraps of noodles and a puddle of soup remained.

The girl bit her lip, not wanting to meet Naruto's gaze. "I... I'm sorry about all this Naruto."

"I'm don't like that she took away the Ichiraku either, but-"

"Not that!" she screamed. "You. The chocolates. I almost _killed_ you Naruto!"

"You shouldn't feel bad about that Sakura."

"How can you say that?"

"You didn't do it on purpose Sakura. You just didn't know. And I didn't know either. It was all an accident. I can't be angry at you for that. Besides, it's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me." His gaze moved to his free hand. "It'll just be like I'm allergic to it or something." He paused. "People can be allergic to chocolate, right?"

"I think so." She was pretty sure she'd heard of that. His calm attitude lifted some of the weight on her heart. "I guess we should be glad it wasn't ramen, period. Or that you were restricted to dog food."

"Don't even joke about that," he retorted, face twisted in disgust.

Sakura let out a little laugh, and it felt good. What was it about simple laughter that dispelled depression and pain?

Naruto finished lunch, and Sakura took the tray back to the kitchenette. When she came back, the fox-boy was looking up at the ceiling. He huffed. "I'm so bored. Being stuck in bed stinks." He stretched his legs under the blankets, longing to get up and move.

"I thought you would. I brought something else too." She reached into the bag she'd brought along, and pulled out a hardcover book. "Here."

Naruto took the volume, studying it curiously before looking back at her. "A book, Sakura? I really don't like reading all that much."

She nodded, expecting him to say as much. "I know. But there's not a lot you can do, and you've tried different things already. So give it a shot." Sakura was a bookworm. She admitted that without hesitation and with a degree of pride. The kunoichi might have been the biggest bookworm in her entire graduating class, and she'd been familiar with the Konoha Library since before she could even walk. The librarians there were practically her surrogate aunts.

Thus, reading was always something she liked to do when she was sick in bed. And not sick in bed, but that was beside the point. So when she'd gone to the library this morning, she did a search of books to bring along. She pulled out a stack of other books from her bag and set them on the nightstand next to her, along with a bookmark. You could never forget the bookmark.

She'd given it a good deal of thought, and decided to mostly go with adventure stories. They'd probably appeal to him most. She'd unfortunately had to discard two of her old favorites, a story involving a man turned castaway on an island, lost among the archipelago of the Land of Water, and a story involving an upstanding medical-nin turning into a twisted monster of a man with the aid of a drug. They probably would have hit too close to home.

Naruto gave her a look, but opened the book anyway. His stared hard at the page, eyes skimming the lines. His face screamed growing frustration. When he didn't turn it after a minute, Sakura got concerned. "What's wrong Naruto?"

He glanced over at her questioning eyes. "Nothing Sakura, I just... um..."

Realization hit her. "Are you having trouble reading?"

He nodded sheepishly. "I wasn't a very good reader to start and, well..."

"You're rusty. I get it." She walked around to the other side of the bed and sat on the edge, avoiding the IV. "Let me help you."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure. Literacy is the basis of all education Naruto" she replied, reciting the favorite phrase of the former head librarian. "It would be a crime if I didn't try to help you."

Naruto chuckled. "A crime? What would they do? Ban you from the library?"

"I suppose." Knowing what Sakura did of the elderly head librarian, she could honestly believe the woman would do that, or at least revoke her special privileges. "Let's start here. Tell me what you're having trouble with."

By the time Sakura left the suite, she felt lighter in mind and body. Naruto was fine. And soon, they would find Tsunade. Naruto would have people to watch him and keep him healthy. As Sakura walked down the streets, she felt the weight in her bag shift, weight from the one book she _hadn't_ removed. She tightened her grip on the bag straps.

She'd done more than search for Naruto's sake. Sakura had made her own plans. She wouldn't feel useless like that ever again.

* * *

Sasuke had the late afternoon shift with Naruto. The boy shifted in his spot, seated as he was outside the bathroom door. Out of all the parts of guard duty, the most awkward had to be waiting while someone went to the bathroom. It was a necessity, but that didn't negate the awkwardness at all. And with Naruto's IV, it was a more frequent occurrence.

But, Sasuke supposed, it was better than the time the two of them had been stuck together chasing those bandits. His nose wrinkled in disgust. That had been a horrible mission. And as if to add insult to injury, the golden statue that started it all had been the ugliest, most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was better before or _after_ it had been smashed up.

He and Naruto wouldn't have even gotten their hands stuck together if Naruto hadn't rushed ahead to confront the bandits and gotten in his way. He'd been planning a swift attack, confident he could do it all on his own, despite his sensei's advice.

Looking back on it now, he could admit that was a major mistake. Even with the way the two boys got in each other's way, the bandit leader, Jako, had been more than a mere thief. That chakra liquid he had was far more versatile and effective than Sasuke had thought, and he hadn't considered the possibility of it disabling hand signs, a major disadvantage for a ninja. And Jako definitely knew that.

If he'd taken that into account, studied the liquid in action a bit longer, he could have tried a wire trap or an explosive tag to distract the enemy, and taken out Jako first, being the biggest threat. But one look at Naruto's glaring face, knowing Naruto had the same idea of a straight forward attack, and Sasuke just jumped right in. Naruto just grated on him, and all three of them suffered.

How Naruto managed to get under his skin so much, he didn't know. Ultimately, it was a lesson in patience. Several of the consequences of that lesson though were things Sasuke liked to pretend didn't happen, and which he'd deny to his grave other than his team.

"Are you done yet?" he asked, attempting to push back the memories rising to the surface.

Naruto's only response was to open the door. "Yeah."

Getting up, Sasuke helped him back into the bedroom. The IV stand was on wheels, which was nothing new. But since the main room was carpeted, Sasuke had to lift it up and carry it to move it across. This made for slower, equally awkward trips back and forth.

"Don't get ahead of me Naruto," he barked. "You'll jerk the IV."

"Sorry."

With a little more effort, Naruto got back into bed. The boy picked up a book from the nightstand. He'd been looking at that one when Sasuke arrived. There was no question who left them there. Sasuke knew Sakura's taste in literature.

No, that wasn't entirely accurate. He knew what she _didn't_ like. Listing what she didn't like was a far easier task than listing what she did like, since the range of genres and titles she partook in was quite extensive.

Sasuke had gone with her to find a reference book prior to a mission in the Land of Rivers, She'd pulled out several extra titles for herself in addition to the one on where they were headed, and proceeded to struggle with choosing which to take. He'd been honestly surprised to learn that her selection wasn't exclusively sappy romance.

"Hey, Sasuke?" asked Naruto, putting down the book.

Sasuke, who had been leaning against the wall in semi-meditation, opened an eye. "What? Are you stuck on another word?" Sakura had helped Naruto with his reading skills, and since he got here, Naruto had reluctantly turned to him for further help.

"Do you think the old man's going to be able to find this lady he's looking for?"

"He mentioned something to Kakashi about having a strong lead. He was hoping to have something concrete by tomorrow. Once he does, we'll head out right away."

Naruto just nodded. "Do you think she'll come back though? The Pervy Sage didn't sound too sure about it, and he knows her."

"Don't worry about it" replied Sasuke. "That will be our job, not yours." Naruto did raise a good point though, for once. With a reaction like that, they might be met with resistance, even in the face of an order from the Hokage.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Sasuke saw that his shift was almost over. "I'm going to head out now. Kakashi will be here soon." He walked toward the bedroom door, before looking back at Naruto. "Make sure you don't die while we're away."

Naruto smirked. "That almost sounds like you care."

Sasuke's face didn't even change. "A lot of people, the Hokage included, have put a lot of effort into helping you. The least you can do is not let all that effort go to waste."

Naruto turned his head away. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Don't worry, I'm not going to die."

Sasuke nodded, before walking out of the suite. As he left, he thought her heard Naruto mutter "I've survived this long after all."

* * *

Tsunade walked out the gambling house, eyes twitching back and forth. The sun was almost at its zenith. Normally she'd still be gambling at this point in the day, or maybe taking a break for lunch like many of the other players. But Tsunade was done playing.

She'd won two out of five rounds in a game of dice this morning. Yesterday, she had a small win on a slot machine and a couple tries later, a triple seven, followed by six more losses. The day before that she'd won the first, seventh, and final rounds of cards out of a dozen. She'd even won a few coin flips.

As much as Tsunade hated to admit it, good luck for her was a bad omen. The last time she'd had a big winning streak, Shizune had contracted a near fatal fever. The time before that, they'd been caught in a massive lightning storm that would have started a forest fire had Tsunade not smothered the initial blaze with a mass of dirt.

The wins were small for the most part, and scattered. At first Tsunade didn't pay them any mind. But the fact was that they kept _happening._ Every gambling event she tried was suddenly peppered with bouts of good luck, and it was starting to set her on edge.

Maybe it was something about this town too. As she walked through the streets, she passed by a hot spring, and noticed a tiny, adorable monkey splashing in a pool next to what Tsunade guessed to be its mother. Wild moneys roamed free here, and the inhabitants accepted the usually benign animals as part of the local charm.

Tsunade didn't really care for monkeys as much. They reminded her of her old teacher. Over the past few days, she'd even thought that they'd been watching her. Combine with how close the place was to Konoha, and now these odd wins... it was all too much.

Shizune, her loyal assistant, walked up beside her, Tonton at her ankles. "Lady Tsunade, where are we going?"

"Back to the hotel," replied the medic. "We're going to pack up and leave before something happens."

"You really think something might happen?"

"I don't know. But I'm getting a bad feeling, and I'd rather not stick around to find out what it is."

Shizune just nodded, before picking Tonton up in her arms. The pig gave an oink of thanks at being carried.

The pair reached the hotel grounds, and were approaching the double doors, when a voice called out.

"Excuse me, but are you Tsunade Senju?"

Tsunade whirled around, half-expecting a debt collector. But instead, she faced a tall masked man with a Konoha forehead protector over one of his eyes. Clearly, a jonin. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it.

Beside him were a boy, clearly an Uchiha judging by looks, and a pretty, pink-haired girl. Both were wearing forehead protectors, though the girl wore hers as a hairband. These were obviously genin. A squad then? If that were the case, Tsunade had to wonder where the third genin was. Had Konoha reduced the team size to two in her long absence?

"What's it to you three?"

"We've been sent by the Leaf Village-" said the jonin.

"That's obvious."

"To find you," he finished.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, and she took a step back. She knew it had been a mistake coming to a place so close to Konoha. "Why?"

The jonin subtly looked around, almost imperceptible to anyone other than her. "Officially, we're here to inform you that the Third Hokage is thinking of retiring again. He would like you to come back to Konoha to discuss taking his place."

Beside her, Shizune's eyes widened in complete surprise, Tonton nearly slipping from her grip. The sow gave an oink of annoyance, and Shizune returned it with a look of apology before readjusting her grip around Tonton's waist.

Tsunade however, just broke into cold laughter, drawing attention from a few passersby. "You've got to be kidding. The old man must have finally succumbed to his age! Hokage is a fool's position. Only an idiot takes that job. My answer is no, and you can take that right back to the Third."

The jonin's face hadn't even changed. Beside him, the genin looked incredibly annoyed. The jonin spoke again. "Actually, Lady Tsunade-"

Tsunade sneered. "Do you have a hearing problem or something? Did the Hokage send you out here because you can't take a hint? I gave you my answer. Now stop pestering me!"

She turned her back to them, ready to walk right back into the hotel, retreat to her room, and pack her things. If these ninja were going to be persistent, she'd probably lock the door too. And if they were _really_ persistent, she could just send the jonin back with some broken bones.

"Wait!"

Tsunade looked over her shoulder. The girl was out in front now. She flinched under Tsunade's glare. "Y-You can't leave yet," she replied. "You didn't let us finish."

"I heard all I wanted to hear. I'm not interested. End of story. Now go away" she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Pardon me, Lady Tsunade, but I said that was the _official_ reason for seeking you out" continued the jonin. "Can we speak privately?"

Tsunade continued glaring at the trio, but decided to let them speak. She gestured for Shizune to follow as she led them to a quiet part of the hotel grounds, under a patch of trees. She crossed her arms over her chest as she turned back to address them. "Alright, what do you really want? And whatever it is, it better not be a waste of my time."

It was the girl who spoke first. "You're a medical ninja, correct?"

Tsunade nodded, getting a feeling of where this was going. "And? What about it Pinky?"

The girl frowned, hands tensing into fists for just a second before relaxing. "We have a patient for you."

And it went exactly where Tsunade thought it would. "And why do you need _me_ of all people? Are you making a mountain out of a molehill, or has medicine declined that much in the Leaf Village?"

The jonin stepped up again. "The patient in question has a rather unique condition. The Hokage felt that you were the best person to help with the situation. For that reason, he sent us out to find you and escort you back to Konoha."

"Lady Tsunade, shouldn't we help them?" asked Shizune.

Back to Konoha. The place where Tsunade was born. The place her grandfather and grand uncle helped found, where her life was completely destroyed. "I refuse. I left the Leaf Village a long time ago. You have an entire medical corps at your disposal, and I don't intend to go back there just because your medics are having a fit over what's probably something simple. I'm sure that if they keep putting their heads together, eventually they'll figure it out. So go peddle your sob story somewhere else."

"But-" began the girl in protest.

"Forget it Sakura," replied the boy. "I say we just leave."

Her green eyes locked onto his. "But Sasuke, we need her to come back with us."

The Uchiha boy just shook his head. "No, I don't really think we do."

Tsunade smirked. "At least one of you has sense."

"Oh I have sense." replied the boy. "I have sense enough to see you're not the person we need. The Hokage wanted the best, most trusted doctors he could find, so he asked for you. But we've been here for two hours looking for you, and we learned quite a bit about what you've been up to.

"We talked to several bar owners who mentioned how much you've drank over the last few days, and the damage you've caused. We spoke to even more gamblers mentioning all the money you've burned through. We've even heard about the debt collectors you've been dodging. When the Hokage sent us, we all expected a great medic."

The boy returned her smirk in full force, eyes boring into her. "Right now I see is a drunken gambler. We don't need you because you're _not good enough._ Maybe you were great once, but all I'm seeing is a washed up has-been."

Shizune leapt forward. "How dare you?! Lady Tsunade-"

"That's enough Shizune!" Her fist flung backwards, hitting a tree and reducing it to a pile of splinters that buried themselves in the surrounding trees. The three Leaf ninja, even the Uchiha brat, looked at her in surprise and fear.

She was averse to doing serious harm to genin, but even still, she had to force herself not to take the boy's head off with her fingers. She satisfied herself by reveling in the terror she could strike into them.

"Who do you think you're talking to you brat? I'm the greatest medic the Leaf Village ever had, the greatest in the world. I was saving lives in the Second Shinobi World War before you were even an idea in your parents' heads."

The boy regained his composure, and to his credit, stared her down. "I'm just making an assessment based on what I've learned and what I observe. And smashing a tree to pieces isn't going to change that. If anything, it only makes it worse for you." The boy turned to his jonin sensei. "Come on, I say we go. This has been a complete waste of time."

The girl cast one last glance in Tsunade's direction, one of complete disillusionment. "I guess so," she sighed.

The jonin nodded. "I suppose we'll have to help the Third go over the hospital staff. He'll be quite disappointed."

"I can't really blame him for the choice," said the boy with a shrug. "He probably hasn't been in touch with her for a long time."

Tsunade watched the trio leave. "Me, not a good enough medic. Me!?" she muttered. "A washed up has-been?" Her fists were shaking now, her red nails leaving crescent moons in her palms. That genin had looked down on her. A _genin_ had _looked down_ on her, _Tsunade Senju,_ the practical princess of all Konohagakure. And not just him. They _all_ had.

"That does it," she whispered. The blonde turned on her heels back toward the hotel, her face a stony mask. She ripped the front doors off their hinges. The desk clerk started to yell, but when the young man looked in her eyes, he seemed to think the better of it, finding something interesting under his desk instead.

Tsunade marched all the way to her room, somehow managing to not destroy this door as well. Entering, she began to look around. Where had she left it? The room was left in a state of mass disarray since her drunken return the night before.

"Lady Tsunade," said Shizune as she walked through the doorway. "I know those ninja said terrible things, and I'm not forgiving them, but don't you think we should have helped?"

"Pack your things Shizune, right now," replied the blonde flatly. Finally, she found her travel bag, and slammed it onto the bed. The bed frame groaned under the force.

Shizune looked hurt, but nodded all the same. She found her own bag within seconds and began to pack as well.

The blonde was already shoving things in, not caring about neatness or order. "We don't have much time if we want to catch up to them."

Shizune looked up in shock, eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. "D-Does that mean that we're going-"

Tsunade nodded her head, her face still frozen in a grimace. "Yes. We're going to Konoha. Now don't waste any more time!"

The brunette's face lit up like the sun. "Yes ma'am!"

They'd left the hotel quickly and took the main road. It was the shortest route from here to Konoha, and therefore the most likely route the trio would take. They'd only gone half a mile out of town when they came upon the ninja team leisurely sitting on the grass beside the road. The genin were eating, while the jonin was reading a book. The Uchiha boy looked up at their approached and smirked at her.

"Ah, Lady Tsunade," called out the jonin cheerily. "We were just stopping for a nice lunch break before heading back, what with it being such a nice day and all. What brings you out here?"

Tsunade clenched her jaw. He knew. That little Uchiha brat _knew_ she'd come after them. He'd provoked her temper on purpose. The jonin's tone only cemented that fact. They'd been waiting for her to show. She'd fallen for it like a complete sap.

"I'm coming back with you. You want me? Fine, you've got me. I'll go talk to the Third and see this patient of yours. And then," she glared at the Uchiha, "I'll show you exactly what I can do." Ploy or no ploy, her reputation as a medic had been dragged through the mud. And there was no way she'd let that stand. No one called her a washed up has-been.

"You'll really help us?" asked the girl, eyes shining with hope.

"Yes, I will." She looked at the road ahead. There was no backing out now. She could curse these brats for doing this to her. "I already said I would." She looked at the road ahead. "I'm going to keep walking. If you want to keep up with me, I'd stop sitting around."

She marched ahead, Shizune and Tonton trailing behind her. Looking over her shoulder, Tsunade saw the ninja team scrambling to catch up. She smirked. They may have goaded her into this, but she certainly wasn't not going to make it easy for them.

* * *

The group had kept going down the road until nightfall, making camp by a small lake. The early morning sun shone brightly overhead. Breakfast was done, and they was taking a small break before heading off again. The two genin of Team Seven had gone off on their own, and Shizune was feeding Tonton.

Tsunade couldn't help but notice the bizarre coincidence that this team had the same number as her old one. They'd rarely gone by "Team Seven" back then, people favoring "Team Hiruzen" since they were taught by the Hokage himself, a necessity after the First Shinobi World War. Clearly, someone up there was laughing at her.

As Tsunade got up to stretch her legs, she spotted the jonin leader, Kakashi Hatake, kneeling in front of a large pack of dogs, all of them bearing Leaf forehead protectors. Summons, clearly.

He'd introduced himself properly once they'd started traveling. It was amazing how much he looked like the White Fang she'd fought with during the Second Shinobi World War. The dogs didn't surprise her in the least. Sakumo, as she recalled, was an avid dog lover, speaking of the Inuzuka clan with no small amount of envy.

He'd admitted to her, in between the battles, that his wife was terribly allergic. Sakumo had been worried that his son would inherited it from her. That didn't seem to be the case apparently.

She walked over to the jonin, and he looked up as she approached. "Ah, Lady Tsunade. Good morning. I was going to take my dogs out for a run before we get going again."

"Good morning to you too. So, about this patient of yours, what exactly is the problem?" It had been bugging her since they'd started walking, once her temper had died down.

The jonin seemed to grimace under his mask. "As odd as this is going to sound, it's something you're going to have to see for yourself." He didn't even let her argue, just setting off with his pack down the path.

Tsunade stood there confused. _What exactly is that supposed to mean?_ Something about this seemed off to her. They'd already provoked her temper to get her to come along. If they'd known anything about her, they should have known that was a dangerous move.

From how they spoke the day before, and their responses to her initial inquiries as they'd set off, Tsunade could tell that the patient was either very important, personally related to this group, or both. An important individual might explain the secrecy of their trip, the cover story about selecting a new Hokage.

If they'd wanted her to do anything, it would have been in their best interest to start giving details of the problem over the not insignificant travel time. But they refused. Neither did they provide any personal information about this precious patient of theirs.

It almost made her think this was a trap. A sob story involving the sick to lure in a medical ninja wasn't anything new. It was practically as old as war and war medicine itself. Kakashi certainly seemed like the son of Sakumo, providing some personal corroborating details. Her relationship with the Leaf Village was rocky to say the least, and she didn't entirely trust this bunch, not yet.

"Milady, is something the matter?" Shizune came up to her side, brow creased with worry.

"Something's weird with all this," she replied quietly. She gestured to the still barely visible jonin. "He still wouldn't tell me anything about their patient."

Shizune nodded. "The boy wouldn't tell me anything either. He just said that we'd have to wait until we arrived."

The medic's face turned grim. "I don't like it Shizune."

"Do you think they're up to something?"

"I don't know. But be ready for a fight just in case."

The young woman nodded before going off to refill their canteens. Tsunade watched her leave. If they were going to come under attack, the attackers might target Shizune first, thinking her an easier target. They'd be in for a rude awakening then.

No one ever realized Shizune was a qualified Leaf Ninja, the benefits of taking remote genin, chunin, and jonin evaluations under Tsunade's watch. You'd only ever know if you'd bothered to look at registration records. If this bunch were impersonating Leaf Ninja for someone else's benefit, those people probably wouldn't have access.

Tsunade looked around and spotted the pink-haired girl, _Sakura,_ she reminded herself, sitting under a tree. Her nose was buried deep in a book, brow furrowed in concentration. The title caught Tsunade's eye. It was a medical textbook, and a beginner one at that, though she didn't recognize it. Perhaps she could get information out of this one?

She strode over to her. "Are you an aspiring medic?"

The girl jumped in surprise, and Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. The kunoichi looked up at her with those big green eyes, a touch of red on her cheeks. "Um, sort of. I wasn't focused on it when I went into the academy, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, Naruto, that's our friend, he got really sick recently, and," her chin dropped to her chest, "all I could do was sit there and yell for help."

"Going for help isn't a bad thing, especially if you're not a trained medic. A fast response by a medic can depend on bystanders being just as fast in getting them."

"But I should have been able to do something!" shot back the girl. Her blush deepened, clearly realizing her tone. "I... I wasn't all that good of a ninja at the academy. I didn't really have any combat ability. For a while, I was pretty useless on missions. I'm still not as good as Sasuke."

Her chin started to tremble. "I _hate_ that feeling, so very much. I've worked so hard to be a better ninja. But when he was sick I couldn't do anything to help. I felt useless again. So I thought I'd try medical ninjutsu."

The girl's jaw clenched as she turned her gaze back to the book, her eyes turning cold. "But I guess I'm a failure there too, because I just don't _get_ this!" She thrust the book back down into her lap, hanging her head in defeat.

The blonde woman was reminded of Shizune. Images of her at ten years old flashed through her head, struggling to learn the ins and outs of medical ninjutsu the year after she became a genin. More than once, she'd had similar doubts. Tsunade looked over the girl's shoulder, and let her brown eyes scan the text. Her face fell. "I don't think it's your fault."

Sakura looked up at her in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. "I'd say it's this book." She sat down on the soft grass next to the girl, taking the book in her hands. "This has got to be one of the most backwards thinking, convoluted medical textbooks I've ever seen. And that's... that's the exact opposite of how you approach that problem" she said, pointing to a particular example. "Whoever wrote this is a pretentious twit who has no idea how to teach. The only thing this will do will confuse the reader or make them start thinking in convoluted knots."

An idea occurred to her as she glanced through the so-called text. " _Please_ don't tell me this is the standard book they use for medics now." Tsunade felt a vein throbbing in her forehead. _If it is, I'm going to have someone's hide._

"I'm n-not really sure" the girl squeaked, inching away just slightly at the woman's flare of temper.

Tsunade realized she was scaring the genin, and took a deep cleansing breath. Once again she was reminded of her assistant, once her ward. She'd been so eager to be of use, to be a medic, to help Tsunade when her hemophobia reared its ugly head. Glancing back at the girl, her lip turned upwards ever so slightly. "How about I help you get through the basics instead?"

Sakura looked utterly dumbfounded. "You... you'd really do that?"

Tsunade just nodded, curiosity over the mysterious patient completely set aside. If these three were bait, they were the master actors, and clearly deserved to be on stage. "I can't let you try learning from this idiot, and we have some time before we start walking again. But if I do, I want you to pay full attention."

Sakura smiled. "Yes ma'am."

Tsunade set the book down between them. "Good. Now let's start at the beginning of this mess."

* * *

It was around 1 PM on December the 15th when the group approached the gates of Konohagakure. They would have arrived earlier, but had been delayed by a large rainstorm. Tsunade tried not to take it as a bad omen.

Sakura had proved to be an extremely bright and perceptive girl, and Tsunade found herself actually enjoying teaching her. She hadn't felt that way in years. She'd gotten so wrapped up in it that she'd basically forgotten to pump her for information.

Still, she did find out a few little things. The patient was probably the Naruto boy Sakura had mentioned. She'd mentioned that he'd gotten sick, and it would explain why their team was missing their third genin. It would also fit the possibility of strong personal involvement with these ninja. From the vague description, whatever this was involved a sudden collapse.

Combined with the strange secrecy, a few possibilities formed in her head. He could have contracted the chakra virus. Even when she was serving as a doctor, medics all over the ninja world were doing their best to contain the vile thing. Marching armies had all avoided areas marked with quarantine signs.

Someone in Konoha even suggested during the course of the war to use false signs to confine the enemy. But she and every other high ranking medic had shot down the idea vehemently. There was no messing around with the chakra virus, period.

Or perhaps he'd contracted some new disease, some bizarre mutation of an old germ. She doubted it was anything like her involvement with the Fourth Raikage years ago. Creatures like those exploding bugs weren't worth all this effort, even if they could make a big blast.

When the gates came into view, the blonde woman's musings were replaced by memories. So many memories, so many of them bad. She was glad they had approached from the east before turning south. The western side of the village was where... where her baby brother had died.

She remembered it perfectly, despite the twenty seven years that had passed. Twenty seven years. She should have been an aunt by now, several times over. Nawaki should have married... what was her name? Yukiko. That was it, the pretty little platinum blonde with the beauty mark on her left cheek. She'd had such a crush on him. Tsunade had teased her bother so very much.

Tsunade should have married Dan by now and had her own children. Instead she was the last of the once proud Senju clan.

Her little brother had just turned twelve the day before. He'd been so proud of the village and of his family, so patriotic, so willing to help and protect everyone within Konoha's walls.

Starting in late 35 KY, Konoha had sent troops marching into the Land of Rivers, all the while saying they wanted to expand fair rights under their rule. To be fair, the Land of Rivers had been ruled by a near despot at the time. But no matter what, the real intent had always been to acquire their gold production to help a weakened economy.

Hostilities developed between the Leaf troops at the border and ninja from neighboring Suna. And near the beginning of 36 KY, those tensions became the start of the Leaf-Sand War.

Nawaki had wanted to join in. But of course he'd only been a genin at the time, a fresh one at that. He'd so wanted to be a chunin. He'd been looking forward to the exams ever since they were announced. Eventually, the fighting came to Konoha, with Suna occasionally launching waves of attack.

One of them managed to do major structural damage to the arena used for the exams, and Tsunade had to suffer though a long, angry rant from Nawaki when the date got pushed back.

It was also during one of those attacks that he'd decided to go check on an explosive trap outside the village walls. He should have stayed inside the shelters with all the other genin. But Nawaki refused to stay put. Why did he have to be so blasted strong-willed?

That had been the last thing he'd ever done. Tsunade glanced over at her assistant. The assault had robbed the younger medic of her own mother. Tsunade had only seen pictures of the petite, dark-haired twenty one year old after the fact. But the way Dan had spoken of her, Tsunade wished she'd known the woman.

In the year following her baby brother's death, the conflict between Suna and Konoha expanded, engulfing the continent and blossoming into the official Second Shinobi World War, a war that claimed Dan's life too. She'd lost so much here, so very much. She locked her gaze on the approaching wall. _The main gates haven't even changed at all. I can even still see that crack I put in that support column._

"Halt!"

Tsunade was knocked from her memories by the voice of the gate sentry. Before she could say anything, Kakashi stood in front, holding out a scroll. "Hello Riichi."

The ninja nodded to Kakashi. "Who is this with you?"

"Someone the Hokage wants to speak with."

The young man read through the mission scroll. "T-Tsunade?!" He stared at her with wide eyes before offered a sharp salute. With how fast his arm shot up, Tsunade would have expected him to have developed a bruise on his forehead. "Lady Tsunade, it's a honor to be in your presence!"

"Yeah, yeah, just let us in." She was here on business, and the sooner she could get inside and away from the memories assaulting her, the better.

"Yes sir, um, ma'am!"

They wasted no time getting through the streets of the village. Tsunade let Kakashi take the lead, but the scowl on her face sent him a signal to move quickly. All the while, Tsunade kept her eyes focused on his back, anything to keep them from wandering around, from seeing the village itself and the memories she knew would assault her, even more from the interior than that exterior did.

She locked her eyes on that red whirlpool mark, the symbol of Uzushio, the now destroyed Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. It was lost part of the way into the second war. Tsunade had been there only once. She remembered it as a place full of incredibly tall buildings. But then again, she'd been only five at the time, so perhaps it was a matter of perspective.

The mark reminded her of her grandmother. Mito Uzumaki had been a picture of grace, a woman who smelled strongly of scroll paper, ink and the herbs from her favorite tea. She too, had passed away many years ago.

Tsunade was happy, at least, that the Konoha ninja continued to wear the mark of the Uzumaki, though she wondered how many actually _knew_ what it meant.

Glancing aside for just a second, she saw that Shizune was completely preoccupied by the sights, looking around everywhere and seeming more like a tourist. Tsunade wasn't surprised. Shizune's memory of this place wasn't all that strong. The pair had left when she was only four years old. Tonton followed behind her, the sow's nose going wild at all the scents.

They went straight to the Hokage residence, the trip completely silent. Kakashi was leading the group to the guest area of the mansion. Tsunade had vague memories of going through here sometimes with her grandfather and grand uncle. She'd been small enough to ride on their shoulders. Where Mito had smelled of tea, Hashirama Senju had always smelled heavily of tree bark and freshly turned earth, and Tobirama smelled of fish.

"Since we're here now," said Kakashi, "I think it's about time I start filling you in on the problem."

Tsunade snorted. "About time. But I was under the impression the Third would be doing that."

"He will. But the patient is here in the residence. You'll be seeing him first, and the Hokage will be joining you soon."

"You left the patient here?" If this was a case of the chakra virus, someone was a drooling moron. "What's going on?"

"One of the genin assigned to me this year was Naruto Uzumaki." Behind the jonin, Tsunade nodded her head. Her hunch had been right. "Naruto was the container of the Nine Tailed Fox that attacked the village. I presume you heard of the attack?"

"It was impossible not to. But get on with it."

"Officially, Naruto is considered dead. In late April, a massive fire broke out in his apartment building, reducing it to ashes and causing the side with his apartment to completely collapse. We all believed him to be dead until we discovered him around the beginning of this month."

"So I take it he suffered some severe injuries?" She frowned deeply. "Is that really why you called me here?"

Kakashi stopped at a door, turning so he looked at her straight in the eye. "Actually, his problem goes beyond accidental injuries. It's so strange and with enough sudden surprises that we needed to call you in."

He gestured to the door. "He's in here. But I'm going to warn you now, what happened to him is something we don't want _anyone_ knowing. You'll understand why soon enough. And don't be afraid. He won't hurt you."

The blonde scoffed. "Are you seriously expecting me to be afraid of a genin? I'm not some rookie. And why don't you just flat out tell me what's wrong with him?"

"If I did, you'd think I was insane. That's why I didn't say anything until now."

She crossed her arms. "The way you've been avoiding my questions, I'm starting to think that anyway."

Kakashi didn't respond. He just knocked on the door. "It's us Naruto. We're here with Tsunade."

A young boy's voice came from the other side of the door. "Come in."

Tsunade pushed the jonin out of the way, grabbing the door knob. "Alright, time to see what all this nonsense is about." She opened the door, taking a step inside. She froze in the doorway. "W- _What the hell?!_ "

* * *

Author's note: I don't claim to have given the most accurate description of chocolate poisoning. But those with pets, please keep in mind the dangers of the stuff. Also, I'd like to say that today, 08/14/16, thanks to the remarks of one of my reviewers (thank you Harlequin), I did some back editing on those chocolate amounts. It seemed I wasn't as clear on that as I thought I was. Just a minor adjustment.

And now, funny trivia. Speaking of foxes: Disney's Zorro. You've probably heard the theme song. This show lasted two 39 episode seasons. Actually, at least as far as season 1, it had the pacing of a modern anime, dealing with three main villains in 13 episode "arcs".

Now for the funny part. This wonderful TV show featuring a daring hero named after a fox premiered in 1957. Specifically, October 10th, 1957, aka Naruto's birthday. XD


	9. Anchors

Author's Note: So sorry this is coming out so late. Life disasters.

Guest 1-7: Yes, Kurama's still there.

SpilledInk82: The answer to your question was something I thought would come up much later, but I managed to work it in here. The answer is nothing, and yet, Team Seven was still involved in a way. While Naruto's problem is the main difference in this AU, I will admit that there are at least two other differences. There were some things I really wanted to try with this story.

And I suppose, if you look at it from a more comedic angle, perhaps the "death" of Naruto caused random pockets of Murphy's Law to appear in the fabric of reality. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am just a fan.

Chapter 9: Anchors

Tsunade blinked as she stood in the doorway, trying to comprehend what she was looking at. There on the sofa was a mass of red fur. Two legs distinguished themselves as they stretched, and a vulpine shaped head that had been resting on a pillow, let out a yawn. A red tail stuck out from under it.

Had she been drinking? She didn't recall doing so. Maybe she'd been drugged? She performed an internal check to make sure there was no alcohol in her system, or anything else. While she stood there pondering possible toxins, Team Seven slipped around her and approached the creature.

"Hi Naruto," said Sakura. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm better" replied the thing as it sat up. "Just a little bored. I got Iruka-sensei to get me lunch from Ichiraku."

"Lady Tsunade, what's the-" started Shizune as she came to her mentor's side. She froze in place. "Oh my..." Tonton, meanwhile, hid behind the brunette's legs.

Was this some form of genjutsu? She tried releasing it, but nothing happened. It had to be something. Tsunade was in Konoha for the first time in twenty four years, standing in the doorway of a guest room in the Hokage mansion, looking at a humanoid fox creature that _talked._ It couldn't be a summon because she knew of none like that, and she was very familiar with them. And this team of ninjas was talking and interacting with it like there was absolutely _nothing_ wrong with this scenario. This just had to be a genjutsu, right? She tried releasing it again. Nothing.

The thing turned to look at her. "Could you shut the door?"

"Uh, sure," said the blonde woman slowly. When she'd finished, she turned back around to find the fox was still looking right at her.

"You're Naruto?" asked Shizune, speaking up for her still stunned mentor.

The fox-boy nodded. "Uh huh. And could you not stare so much?"

"Sorry," said Shizune. "We were, um, expecting a little boy."

"I'm not that little," replied the apparent Naruto with some irritation, "I'm twelve. No, wait" he paused, as if trying to remember something. "What month is it?"

"December," replied Shizune. From the expression on her face, she was still trying to grasp the situation. She was certainly doing better than Tsunade, and it was something the elder medic could appreciate right then.

"Then I'm thirteen. But... are you supposed to be Tsunade?"

Shizune seemed to pull herself together at the question. "What? Oh no, this is Lady Tsunade," she said, pointing over to her.

Naruto got closer, scrutinizing the blonde. "Really? You don't look old enough to be someone's grandma."

The remark snapped her out of her stupor. "Old?! Why you little-"

"Well, I see your temper is the same as ever, eh Tsunade?"

Tsunade whirled around. Grinning in the once again open doorway was one of her fellow Sannin. "Jiraiya? What are you doing here?"

"He's helping." As Jiraiya walked in, her old sensei followed behind. She hadn't seen him in so long. He looked well despite his age. The fact that he still wore the robes of the Hokage baffled her. The old fool should have retired from the ridiculous position long ago. Then again, he _had_ tried, hadn't he?

"Lord Hokage," declared Shizune in surprise. She bowed. "It's an honor to meet you sir."

The man turned his attention to the brunette. "You must be Shizune. You have grown into quite the young lady after all these years."

"Thank you sir."

"It is good to see you again Tsunade," continued her sensei, moving back to her. "And since you're here, I believe it is time we talked. Please follow me to my office."

Anger was boiling up in her now. She'd had it with all the secrecy and surprises. She wanted a straight answer, and she'd get it from her sensei. Muscles tensing, she took the lead. "Yes, _let's talk._ "

* * *

Tsunade stomped into the Hokage's office, Jiraiya following behind, along with Shizune and Tonton. Once the seal of silence was activated, she slammed her hands on the wooden desk. "What's going on here exactly Sarutobi-sensei?!"

Her old teacher didn't even flinch. "I'm sorry for the secrecy involved in getting you here Tsunade. But as you can see, it's a very difficult problem."

"That's an understatement!" cried Tsunade. "When I was brought here I was made to think there was some sort of disease that needed treating. Tell me what's going on right now."

"Sit down Tsunade."

Casting her teacher another irritated glance, she did as she was asked. Jiraiya was already seated, watching her carefully. Wary of her temper no doubt. Shizune sat on her other side, Tonton resting at her ankles.

The Hokage exhaled from his pipe. A dirty habit, Tsunade knew. She always hated it when ninjas took up smoking. The medics had discovered its effects on the lungs for goodness sake. Sarutobi-sensei only got a pass from her because of his age. "I presume Kakashi told you about Naruto's seeming death?" Hiruzen asked.

Shizune nodded. "Yes, he did. Are you telling us that he turned into _that_ instead?"

The Third nodded. "He was discovered at the beginning of the month, living in the woods."

"And why exactly is _he_ here?" Tsunade gestured to her old teammate. "You're not still writing those trashy books, are you?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

The Toad Sage pulled back. "Um..."

"He is here to help discern the cause of Naruto's change" said the Hokage.

Tsunade turned her gaze from Jiraiya, which prompted a sigh of relief. "If he's here to figure that out, then what am _I_ doing here?"

"There was an incident six days ago," answered the Hokage. "Naruto nearly died ingesting chocolate. Apparently his body can no longer process it like a human being. We had to seek assistance from an Inuzuka clan vet to treat him."

The blonde frowned before leaning back in her seat, folding her hands in front of her face. "I'm still not seeing the answer to my question. It sounds like you have a perfectly good doctor around for him. He certainly didn't seem ill to me."

The Hokage shook his head. "While we were able to stabilize him, it became apparent that he needs a medical examination in order to establish a baseline, and help prevent any further surprises. The veterinarian agreed with the suggestion, but requested a human doctor to work with, considering that Naruto still seems part human. She felt her efforts in that task would be insufficient.

"That is why you are here Tsunade. I need you here to monitor Naruto while we try to solve this change. I am perfectly willing to help accommodate your stay in Konoha. And I will be willing to pay one of your gambling debts in exchange, within reason."

Tsunade's arms went limp, feeling like she'd been hit by lightning. "I don't need your charity," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, ignoring Shizune's squeak of protest. Her mind was focused on the larger picture. A medical examination. Baseline establishment. Constant monitoring. "You don't even know how this happened. It could take anywhere from days to months to years."

They were asking her to stay here, to live in this village once again. There was no other way it would work. Living in Konoha? Her hands reached up for her necklace, fingers wrapping around the little sliver of crystal. The cool, smooth surface brought her some comfort, but not enough. She felt Shizune lean in closer. Tsunade released the necklace. "I'm not staying here. Find someone else to help you."

"You came all this way and you're backing out now?" cried Jiraiya in disbelief. "Where's your sense of honor?"

"Shut up!" she shot back. "When those three made me come here, I said I'd look at the patient and talk to the Third. I've done that. Besides, they never said anything about this being a long term request. I never agreed to that, and there's no way I'm taking it now. And you certainly can't buy me off either."

"He needs you Tsunade!" shouted Jiraiya angrily. "He almost died. He had a _seizure!_ Don't you care?! He's an Uzumaki, like you are. Don't you have any compassion?"

"And why are you so worked up? What does he matter to you?"

The Hokage held up a hand. "Jiraiya, please, calm yourself."

But the Toad Sage didn't relax. If anything, he seemed to get angrier. His hands became shaking fists. "Calm? It's kind of hard to be calm when my godson's eyes _glow in the dark!_ "

Tsunade blinked. " _Godson?_ That kid is your godson?" A laugh erupted from her throat. "Who in their right mind would make _you_ someone's godfather? You're as far from godfather material as a person can get."

Jiraiya took a deep breath, and responded with his own chuckle as he stared down at the floor. "Yeah, I know. Trust me, I've asked myself the same thing hundreds of times." When he looked back up at her, his face had a rare seriousness to it. "He needs your help Tsunade. Please, for my sake. Stay, and make sure he stays alive."

"You..." Her whole body shook. "You don't know what you're asking. I'm not going to stay here. _I can't._ I... You can never understand."

The tension in the room rose again, and Shizune moved closer to her out of protective instinct. Jiraiya's face darkened, ready to spit something back at her when Sarutobi got between them.

"That is enough" he said sternly. He looked at each of them, daring them to defy him before focusing on her. "Tsunade, please try to understand our position. You don't have to answer right away. Take a few days to consider it. Can you please do that for me, Tsunade?"

The sincere, pleading tone in his voice surprised her. She couldn't remember the last time her old sensei had ever made that kind of request. She couldn't bring herself to say no. "Fine," she said with a huff.

"Thank you, Tsunade. I will have another room in the mansion prepared for you and-"

"I'll find my own place, thank you," she snapped. She couldn't stay in this place. She needed out. The office was reminding her of too much already, and her anger at being tricked still burned brightly in her heart.

Without any other word, Tsunade walked out of the mansion. She didn't even wait for Shizune. The younger woman would be fine on her own, and Tsunade wasn't sure she wanted her around right now.

Upon setting foot outside, she let out a curse. In all the excitement, she'd overlooked one thing. Finding a place to stay would mean wandering around the village.

She really should have paid more attention to the omens.

* * *

Tsunade wandered the streets of the village, searching for a place to stay. She couldn't remember where any of the hotels were. She'd never used one in all the time she'd lived here. But try as she might, her mind was still stuck on her earlier conversation. How could they understand? How could they understand what it was like to be here?

For her, Konoha was a village of ghosts.

Moving down the road away from the academy and the mansion, she found herself by a collection of food stands. There was one that Nawaki had visited almost daily. There were customers lined up to it now, but all Tsunade could see was one, an image that flickered in front of her eyes.

 _"Can't I have just one more sis?" begged an eight year old Nawaki, pointing at the collection of sweets._

 _"You'll spoil your appetite if you keep this up Nawaki."_

She turned her eyes away, forcing the memories back, willing them to dispel like a genjutsu. If only it was that easy.

There was a little restaurant that Dan had adored. Here too, images flashed before her.

 _"I don't like sashimi Dan,"_ _spoke the echo of herself so many years ago._

 _"Come on Tsunade, try it. I love it here. Please?"_

 _"Fine."_

She'd still hated it. But she couldn't say no to his smile.

On her left came a movie theater. It had gotten larger over the years. She remembered taking Nawaki to see a film depicting their grandfather's duel with Madara. He'd been waiting to see it for a whole week. It was a pretty cheap film to be honest, even by the standards of the day. The lead actor looked little to nothing like grandfather.

Nawaki had been on the verge of getting up and confronting the owner in the name of the Senju before Tsunade started poking fun at it. _"The wood golem has a zipper on his belly!"_

They'd both laughed themselves to tears over it. But for the life of her, Tsunade couldn't remember the name of the movie. Nawaki's laughter rang in her ears. She wished more than anything to hear it again for real. Just once. Just one more time. She'd die happy the very next second if she could hear it again.

On her right, she spotted a toy store. The spectral image of Dan stood in the interior.

 _"What about this one?" he said, holding up a stuffed humanoid tree._

 _"The face on that thing is way too creepy. You give that to Shizune for her birthday and she'll have nightmares. Here, give her this one instead."_

She'd picked out an immense stuffed pig, and Dan had gone ahead and bought it. It wasn't the first or last time she'd helped him with his toddler niece. Not long after they'd met, it became clear he was totally lost on how to take care of a girl that young. She'd volunteered to help before he'd gotten to begging. She'd had plenty of experience thanks to the twelve year gap between her and Nawaki.

Now that Tsunade thought about it, she was sure Shizune still had that toy somewhere. Though the last time Tsunade saw it, it looked extremely ratty, desperately in need of washing and stitches.

A pottery store came into view, and here, a new image came before her, a ghost she thought she'd left behind when she'd left the village. She saw Fumiki Senju, her mother.

She'd been a civilian, an artist specializing in ceramics and making clay statues. Tsunade saw herself at seven, helping her mother with a series of pots, each emblazoned with the symbol of a major clan as the center of an intricate design.

 _"Careful Tsunade, or it won't come out right. Oh no, we'll have to do that over."_

 _"But Mommy, will they even notice? They all wear those funny glasses."_

 _"Now, now Tsunade, that's not very fair to the Aburame. They may not be the most prominent clan in the village, but they still deserve as much effort as the others. Now let's start again. That's it, nice and steady."_

Fumiki had steady, dexterous hands, and equally nimble fingers. They would have been well suited to surgery. She ended up passing those hands onto Tsunade, along with her blonde hair. Nawaki's death had devastated her, and a year later, she joined her son in the great beyond.

She'd gone on an outing with a friend to the woods near Hokage Rock. Despite the war, the area had been deemed safe. But for Fumiki, it hadn't been. She'd encountered a large bee hive. Her mother had always been horribly allergic, and in one last moment of incredible forgetfulness, she hadn't packed her medication. Anaphylactic shock robbed Tsunade of her mother before help could even arrive.

Thinking of her made Tsunade remember another ghost from deep in her past, her father. She could see him now, tall, dark-eyed and auburn-haired, looking so much like her grandfather in the face but with a complexion closer to her grandmother. He'd been the hotheaded sort, ready to jump and attack first and easy to agitate.

Appropriately enough, his favorite color had been red, emphasized by his iconic red coat. But he hadn't been all fire and fury. He'd taken to sketching as a hobby, and had once shown her a sketch he'd done of the whole village from atop Hokage Rock when he was just a teenager. Her mother had told her that they'd met when he was browsing her little store, and the two had bonded over that shared interest in the arts.

Geki Senju, declared by everyone as Prince Geki, had been a swordsman of supreme skill. He was even better than uncle Tobirama in a straight fight, minus the teleportation jutsu, or so her sensei told her. During the First Shinobi World War, he'd won the respect of other swordsmen from the Mist and Cloud.

He'd taken down his fair share of enemies in that war, but he'd also sustained some injuries. After it was over, he turned from active duty to teaching advanced swordsmanship classes. If she'd taken a different road from the mansion and academy, she would have passed the place where his training hall was. Even without it being there, the images rose from the depths of time.

 _"Daddy! Daddy!" cried the ghostly image of a six year old Tsunade. "I got it! I got my headband!" She jumped forward, tackling her equally unreal father._

 _"Oof! That's fantastic my little princess. Your mother is going to be so proud of you, just like me."_

 _The ghost girl beamed. "One day I'm going to be as great a ninja as you or grandpa or grandma or uncle Tobirama!"_

 _"I'm sure you will Tsunade. I'm sure you will."_

Ultimately, she'd never measured up to the abilities of the First and Second Hokages. But then, that was such a high bar. He's still been so proud when she'd become a medic, marveling at the way she'd handled even the toughest cases, or treated his old war wounds when they acted up. He would have been just as proud of Nawaki earning his headband, and Nawaki had always wanted to learn swordsmanship from him once he became a genin.

But when her brother was nine, her father had been staying late tending to the hall. The next morning, he'd been found dead, drowned in the outdoor pond. The investigating Uchiha officers determined that he'd slipped and fallen, striking his head on a rock and rendering him unconscious as he fell into the water. So it was that the flame of life had been extinguished in the only child of the First Hokage.

She was moving without thought now, her mind no longer focused on finding a place to stay, but instead bombarded with every sight and sound she'd tried so hard to block out earlier. But it wouldn't be stopped, like a flood breaching a dam.

And they wanted her to stay here again. Doing that was like being within inches of a cactus, like the ones they'd encountered in Suna. Big, barbed cacti with needles that dug horribly into the skin and easily broke pieces of themselves off on contact. Treating those wounds had been horrible and tedious. Getting them had been worse. Tsunade had even heard over the years that someone had bred _poisonous_ strains of them. Whoever they were, they must have been the biggest sadist on the continent.

Feeling tired under the weight of her memories, Tsunade spotted a nearby park. Walking on the deep green grass, she sat down at a table under a shelter, closing her eyes and wishing the pain would go away. "I should have just said no and left the village. There's nothing for me here."

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Tsunade opened her eyes to see a platinum blonde woman in her late thirties looking at her. "No."

"Thank you." The woman sat down, smoothing out her skirt. She looked like a civilian. She turned and gave Tsunade a smile. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I haven't been here for a long time," answered Tsunade. She really didn't feel like conversation, but she was also too tired at that moment to drive the woman off.

"Oh, so you're a native then? I'm a Konoha girl too, born and raised" she said with a laugh. "I'm just waiting for my husband to show up. Are you waiting for someone too?"

"No, I'm not." Tsunade's fingers tensed, wanting to close into fists, her energy returning. Couldn't this woman just go away? She wasn't in the mood for small talk.

The woman seemed to be completely oblivious to Tsunade's rising irritation. Instead, she just stretched her legs. "It's good to get out and rest. And such nice weather too." She looked over to her right. "Sayuri, don't get too far away!"

In the distance, a little girl came to a sudden stop from her trek through the grass. She looked about nine years old, with long dark hair and clad in only a white sundress. "Sorry Mommy!" she called back.

"Nawaki, make sure she doesn't trip."

Tsunade's head snapped toward the direction the other woman was looking. A boy came up next to the girl. He was on the taller side, and seemed about fourteen, with his mother's blonde hair and blue eyes, and wearing a Leaf forehead protector. "Sorry Mom," he called back.

 _Nawaki?_

"Remember Sayuri, once your father gets here we'll go the movies, so be good" said the woman, which elicited a cheer from the girl.

"Nawaki?" Tsunade repeated out loud.

"Hmm? Oh yes, that's my son" said the woman proudly. "I named him after an old friend of mine. I had such a crush on him, the Nawaki I knew anyway." She sighed nostalgically. "He was so brave. When we were ten, he defended me from a bunch of bullies. Got a nasty black eye for it too, but he gave as good as he got from them." She looked over at her son. "He died sadly," she said, her voice taking on a bittersweet tone. "When my son was born, I couldn't think of a better name."

Tsunade looked at the boy again, watching as he kept pace with his sister. She noticed the way the little girl limped, and the brace strapped to her right leg.

"What's wrong with her leg?"

"Oh, you noticed. Sayuri got into an accident quite a while back. She hurt her leg pretty badly. The doctors gave her that brace to wear." The woman let out a sigh. "She was so upset about it all. She wants to be a dancer you know, but not with that leg."

Even at a distance, Tsunade was able to study the girl's movements. It didn't look that bad to her. "Wouldn't surgery be able to fix it?"

"I asked that too, but the surgeons at the hospital are so backed up that we won't be able to schedule one for months." She tilted her head at Tsunade. "Excuse me, but have we met before? I'm sorry, but now that I look at you I can't help but think you seem familiar."

Tsunade shook her head. "I don't think so."

Before the other woman could say any more, a dark-haired man walked up to her. "Sorry I took so long dear."

The woman got up and kissed him, taking his hand. "It's alright. We weren't here long." As her husband went over to collect their children, she turned back to Tsunade. "It was nice talking to you. I hope you enjoy your visit back here."

"Let's go Yukiko, before Sayuri tries to rush ahead!"

"Coming!"

Tsunade sat there in silence as the family retreated. _Yukiko._ Her name was Yukiko. And, yes, as the woman turned her head, Tsunade saw the mark on her cheek. That had been the girl that had a crush on Nawaki, the girl she was sure he'd marry. She'd named her son after...

 _When we were ten, he defended me from a bunch of bullies. Got a nasty black eye for it too, but he gave as good as he got from them._

She remembered her brother coming home with a black eye. He'd insisted somebody had just dropped something accidentally, and it hit him when he looked up. He'd been bruised in other places too, and Tsunade was sure there had been more to it, but he'd never said anything, merely going red in the face. Had he been embarrassed to admit he'd done that for Yukiko? Had he had a crush on her too?

Her head felt like it was swimming. Unable to think of what else to do, she got out from under the shelter, and kept on walking.

* * *

After the park, Tsunade just let her feet go where they wanted. Eventually, she found herself on the old training ground. The same one where her team had taken the bell test all those many years ago. A fraction of a smile appeared on her face when she spotted the same log that Jiraiya had been tied to.

"I didn't expect to see you here Tsunade."

Tsunade turned to see the Hokage staring at her, smoking his ever present pipe as he gave her an amused smile. "Reminiscing, are you? I expected you to be in a hotel by now."

"I had trouble finding one," she admitted. "What about you? You aren't following me, are you?"

"Absolutely not," he replied. His tone lacked any mirth, and she could tell he was sincere. "I'm just an old man taking a walk through his home."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "An old man with ANBU guards." She could sense them even now. But they were much further away than she would have thought.

Sarutobi walked up to the log. "I remember when I had to tie Jiraiya to this. He's certainly come a long way since then, hasn't he?"

She snorted. "Most of the time it seems like he hasn't changed at all."

The old man chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you're right." He turned around to look her in the eye. "Tell me Tsunade, why are you so resistant to coming back here?"

"You should know the answer to that sensei," she said coldly. "After Nawaki, after... after Dan, I..." The blonde wrapped her arms around herself, looking down at her feet. "You have no idea what it's like to walk through the streets and see all these old places, how much it hurts me. Neither of you understand."

Hiruzen had a faraway look in his eyes. "You're wrong Tsunade."

She glared at him. "How?"

His gaze was half-lidded, seeming to focus on something other than her. "I know what it's like to look at something innocent and feel nothing but the pain of memories." He exhaled from his pipe. "For a time, I felt that pain whenever I looked at Naruto."

How could that brat be painful for him? Did he mean his seeming mutation? She was about to ask in retort, but the sadness in her former sensei's eyes stopped her.

"She's gone Tsunade," he said. "Biwako is gone."

The words made her stagger, as if punched in the jaw. "Biwako-sensei is dead? How... When..." Biwako Sarutobi had been as much a teacher to Tsunade as her husband had. She'd helped Tsunade through her medical training. Tsunade never would have gotten where she did without her careful guidance. That was a fact. She was dead too? How many more people would she lose? How big would her graveyard be?

"She died in the Nine Tails attack," her sensei said, his voice overflowing with loneliness. "She was delivering Naruto into this world."

"I," she started. Her tongue struggled to form words. Finally, it just settled on the simplest. "I'm sorry."

"There is nothing for you to be sorry for" he answered. "Neither was Naruto to blame. But for a time, it was impossible to look at that infant and not see Biwako. I _know_ that pain Tsunade. And in knowing, I do not ask these things of you lightly. Jiraiya, I think, also understands your feelings to a degree."

She didn't bother asking, just motioning him to continue with another raised eyebrow. "When we believed Naruto to be dead, I had to contact him Tsunade. I had to write him a letter." His expression turned dour, lines in his old face deepening even more than she thought possible.

She just nodded her head, reading the message underneath his words. She knew the type, the sort that started with the infamous line _we regret to inform you._

"It was not long after that," he continued, "that I noticed Jiraiya changed his touring route. He extended it Tsunade, in a way that made his returns to Konoha far less frequent."

The news left her stunned. Jiraiya had such a great love for Konoha, close to Nawaki or Dan, though sometimes she thought he just loved the hot springs. For him to try and avoid coming back, the news of Naruto's supposed death must have hit him harder than she thought. His reaction in the Hokage's office suddenly came into a new light.

"It still doesn't make it any easier for me you know," she replied. "It still hurts."

"I know it does Tsunade. But we must carry on through the pain. I tried to protect Naruto the best way I knew how because I owed that much to the Fourth for sacrificing his life."

"A pointless sacrifice," she spat cynically. "The man was a true idiot. Then again, what do you expect with Jiraiya as his sensei?"

"Tsunade," replied the older man his tone echoing extreme disapproval.

"No, don't even start. Being Hokage is an insane job. Hokages have put themselves against foolish odds and thrown their lives away, and for what? My grandfather became Hokage and created this village to stop war. But he died, and world wars still happened. The number of fighters just got condensed. My grand uncle died in one of those wars. The Fourth was barely in office before he did the same. And now his vessel is half way to being that thing, and you've got him holed up right in the residence. You'd do it too. You just haven't had the opportunity."

Sarutobi just glared at her, a puff of smoke from his pipe making him seem like an old, but angry dragon. "He needs someone to be here in case something unexpected happens."

Anger rose up in her chest. "Then let the vet treat him! Or get someone else. It doesn't have to be me." She pointed a red-painted nail at him. "Don't you dare push me. You should be thankful I didn't leave the village already. Now if you excuse me," she said, turning on her heel, "I'm going to keep looking for a place to stay."

She left the training ground without another word. Her old sensei didn't even try to follow her.

* * *

Tsunade stomped through the streets, trying to calm down after her talk with her sensei. Losing complete control of her temper often resulted in property damage, and it wasn't something she wanted to risk in Konoha of all places.

"Fancy running into you here." Tsunade looked up to see Jiraiya standing there, a laid back grin plastered on his face. "Still haven't found a place to stay?"

 _Wonderful, first the old man and now him. They must be taking turns._ "No" she replied flatly.

"I don't think it would do you much good right now anyway," replied the Toad Sage. "You know how hotels are. They probably wouldn't let you in until four."

"Do you have a reason for finding me?" she snapped. "Did the old man send you to talk to me after he tried?"

"Hey, hey," he said, putting up his hands in defense. "I'm just here to see the sights, and maybe treat an teammate to lunch. How about it?"

Her stomach let out a small grumble in response. Tsunade's cheeks flushed as Jiraiya's grin grew wider. "Fine. But you're paying."

"You'd make a hermit pay?"

"A hermit with a big wallet, yes."

Without much more protest, Jiraiya eventually took her to a quiet little restaurant and got them a back booth. She didn't recall this one being here before. Jiraiya took both of their orders. But in this case she let it slide, since he'd requested her favorite foods. He winked at the young waitress when she returned with their food before he turned his attention back to Tsunade.

"So sensei ran into you too, huh?"

Tsunade just nodded, swallowing a bite of the chicken breast in front of her. "I'm still not intending on staying."

"If that's true, then why are you still here? Shouldn't you have collected Shizune and left the village?"

"I'm just being nice to the Third." She didn't feel like calling him sensei right now. "And where is Shizune?"

"Since you stormed out, she thought she'd take in the sights. She told us that it was best to give you space."

"You should have listened to her."

"Yeah, maybe." The meal continued in silence for several seconds before he spoke again. "You know, there were other secondary reasons for you to be here."

She chomped down on the chicken breast, giving Jiraiya an irritated glance. "Like what? What else are you hiding? Don't tell me the Third was serious about making me Hokage."

"There was actually some truth to that. He told me he'd like to retire again and that you weren't a bad choice for the job."

"I wouldn't take that foolish job in a thousand years," she snapped.

Jiraiya frowned as he set down his tea. "Hey, that's just what he said to me once we located you. But that's not what I'm talking about." He looked around, double checking the privacy of the booth. "I take it you heard about the death of the Fourth Kazekage?"

Tsunade nodded. "Bad news like that travels fast. Somebody tried to invade the Leaf Village. So what?"

"The one who planned the invasion and killed the Kazekage was Orochimaru."

Her eyes widened. Her other teammate had been rather twisted in his outlook, that was true. And she'd heard he'd defected. But to plan an invasion and kill a kage? That was a bold move. "You're sure?"

Jiraiya nodded. "We checked. The Hidden Sand was pretty forthcoming when the discovery was made. They gave up the entire plot."

"How did they even find out the double cross anyway?"

"Dumb luck" replied Jiraiya. "In March, the shipping magnate Gato died thanks to a Leaf mission to the Land of Waves. He was exposed as a smuggler and drug dealer. When it was all wrapped up, the Leaf passed the knowledge of his dealings to all the major countries so they could make arrests. Gato's company had a branch in one of the Land of Wind's southern port towns. Two of his goons there were fleeing the authorities when they found the Fourth. And then they got caught."

"And what about Orochimaru?"

"Nothing. I've been trying to find him, but no luck. He'd turned the Land of Rice Fields into his own nation, the Land of Sound. Leaf ninja raided it, but whatever was in that Hidden Sound village of his, it's gone."

"And with the two of us hanging around Konoha, it makes it even safer in case Orochimaru tries something else, is that right?"

"That was the thought, Sensei realized it after we sent those three out to get you."

Tsunade scowled. "Don't think that's going to make me stay here Jiraiya. I don't care about this village anymore. I'm not throwing myself into a fight with Orochimaru for it."

The Toad Sage let out a sigh. "Well, it was worth a try." The man got up from his seat.

"Hey, don't forget that you're paying."

"Right, right" grumbled Jiraiya. "Where did I put my wallet? Here it is." As he pulled out his wallet, a piece of paper came free and floated down onto the table.

Tsunade picked it up, turning it over to reveal a photo. Her eyes went wide as she locked onto the faces. "Who's this?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at the sudden quietness of her tone. "That's a picture of Naruto with his team. Sarutobi-sensei sent it to me."

She stared at the smiling blonde in the photo. "He... he looks like Nawaki."

"Hmm?" Jiraiya tilted his head. "Huh. I never really noticed it, but I think you're right. Kid did look a little like him, didn't he?"

It was more than a little. The face and the eyes, the similarities were striking. She hadn't forgotten one little detail of her little brother's face, not even after all these decades, and she saw those features now.

Jiraiya sat back down, noticing her distraction. "You know, from what sensei told me, Naruto was a lot like Nawaki in a way. He was a determined kid, and he dreamed of being Hokage, even in spite of being dead last in the academy."

 _Being Hokage is my dream._ The words came back to her, even now. That stupid, foolish dream. The longer she gazed at the picture, the more her chest began to ache.

When Jiraiya took the photo back and slipped it into his pocket, her fingers resisted for a fraction of a second. "Look Tsunade, I can't make you stay, none of us can. But either way, I'm asking you to keep this a secret. If you let this get out, if he gets hurt because you let this slip, then you'll have to deal with me." His voice was so cold, as cold as the glare he threw down at her. And Tsunade knew that Jiraiya meant every word of it.

She only nodded her head. "I know."

After Jiraiya left, she didn't stay much longer, returning to the streets of Konoha. Her mind kept turning back to the picture. The boy looked so much like her brother. _Or at least he did,_ she corrected herself. And he even had the same ridiculous dream, even more ridiculous now, because Nawaki had at least been the top of his class.

It was almost like Nawaki's spirit had found new ways to haunt her. She didn't believe in reincarnation, but she'd almost believe it now, that this boy was perhaps her little brother reborn. But if that were true, then her baby brother had been reborn a jinchuriki, and had turned into a twisted monster. It was like the universe was playing a sick joke on her. Just thinking about it made her feel ill.

The death of their father had driven her and Nawaki even closer together then they already were. Then Nawaki died, and the year after that, her mother died, pulling her closer to Dan. And then the next year she lost him too.

Her grandmother had still been around, but with the death of her son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and the destruction of her ancestral home, she'd become as cloistered as Tsunade had, lost in her own pain.

With Dan dead and her grandmother isolated, Tsunade lost every single thing that tied her down to the village. Not even her work helped. She'd tried several times after that awful battle to heal her fellow soldiers, but even the smallest drop of blood paralyzed her. It was a force so mighty that not even her lauded strength could stop it. So she'd stopped trying and simply closed herself off from all else but caring for a newly made orphan.

When the war finally ended, Tsunade packed her things in the dead of night and walked away from her village, a sleeping Shizune in her arms.

Without any anchor, any rope to tie her down, she'd simply drifted across the vast ocean of the open road. An empty house and a hastily written note was the only testament to her departure, the pale moon and glittering constellations, the only witnesses. And she'd never looked back.

A part of her wanted to leave even now, to find Shizune and leave this accursed place. But another part of her hesitated. She remembered Naruto, the boy who looked like her brother, but now didn't. Her teacher had mentioned he'd nearly died. The thought of the boy in that photo dying sent a bolt of terror down her spine.

And she remembered little Yukiko, who wasn't so little anymore. She had a family. A family her brother might have had.

"Curse it all," she whispered. "I can't leave."

"Lady Tsunade, there you are." Shizune came running up to her. "I found a hotel for us to use. They'll even let us check in early."

"That's good," replied the blonde. "Now I want you to follow me back to the Hokage's office. We're staying."

Shizune's jaw hung open, eyes bulging out of their sockets so much that they threatened to fall out completely. "We're staying?!"

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, now come along."

Maybe, just maybe, she had an anchor after all.

* * *

"You've decided to stay?" The Third greeted her with an eyebrow raised so high it almost seemed like it was going to break free of his face.

"You sound like that's a problem," replied Tsunade.

The old man cleared his throat. "Not at all. I'm just surprised that you changed your mind, and so quickly at that. What convinced you?"

"That's personal, old man."

Sarutobi smiled. "Well, no matter the reason, I am happy that you chose to stay Tsunade." He shuffled some of the multitude of papers on his desk. "Since that's settled, I wanted to talk to you about your occupation while you're back in the village."

"I'm still not taking the Hokage title from you," she growled. She may have chosen to stay in this place, but she still thought Hokage was a fool's position.

"I can't say I'm surprised, given our earlier discussion." There was a hint of disapproval in his tone. "And while I do feel you would be qualified for the position, I think it would not be wise in this case. The job is quite demanding." He cast a glance at the mountain of paperwork at his desk, his face falling. "And that may interfere with your ability to monitor Naruto or come to his assistance."

Tsunade nodded, the thought of dealing with all of that made her grimace. "And I'm not going to be just sitting on my hands when there isn't an emergency."

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to go back into your medical practice. I know several unused buildings in the village that could be converted into a clinic if you wish."

"I..." she hesitated to answer. Her old teacher knew about her phobia, so it wasn't like it was a secret. But at the same time, she never wanted to admit it. The world's greatest medical ninja had hemophobia, possibly the worst disorder a doctor could have. It was absolutely humiliating.

Thankfully, she didn't have to say anything. He picked up on her unspoken words. "You're still plagued by your fear of blood?" She offered no response at all, and he took it as confirmation. He folded his hands in front of his face, leaning back in his chair. "Then I suppose medicine would be out of the question."

"I disagree," spoke up Shizune. When the Third looked at her, she cleared her throat. The feeling of awe at meeting him hadn't worn off, and nervousness clawed at her. "Lord Hokage sir, Lady Tsunade may have hemophobia, but I am a capable medic myself. And I have acted under her instruction before. There is no reason why she shouldn't be able to help the village in a medical capacity."

"Shizune," she began to protest.

Shizune just stopped her right there. "Lady Tsunade, I don't want to be sitting idle while we are here either. I'm your assistant, so please let me assist you. You are the greatest medical ninja in the world, and the world should see that again. There's no reason why you shouldn't be in the medical field."

The determined look on her face made a smile come to Tsunade's lips. "Thank you, Shizune." She turned to her sensei. "I think I will go back into practice.

The Third gave them his own warm smile before looking over the papers on his desk. "Very well then. I will see to arranging a new clinic for you to work in. Tanizaki at the hospital should be able to assist us in supplying you the necessary equipment."

Tsunade's ears perked up at the name. "Tanizaki? As in Taisho Tanizaki?"

The Hokage looked surprised. "Yes. He's the administrator of the Konoha Hospital. Do you know him?"

"I've heard of him," she replied flatly. That was the name of the author for that book Sakura had. "And he's the administrator for the entire hospital?"

The Hokage nodded. "Yes. He's been in that position for quite some time."

Tsunade's hands tightened into shaking fists. "I'd like to talk to you about that."

* * *

It was the next day when Tsunade walked through the doors of the Konoha Hospital. The older members of the hospital staff looked at her with awe and shock, while the younger ones just seemed confused. The young nurse at the reception desk was one of the latter, but nearly fell out of her seat when Tsunade told her who she was.

The surprised nurse still managed to stammer out directions to the administrator's office, and Tsunade, joined by Shizune, went off in that direction. As they got to the correct hall, Tsunade saw an elderly man cleaning the halls. She recognized him as the same civilian janitor that had been here when she'd last lived in the village. Good old Namboku. He had to be in his sixties by now.

The tall man looked up from his work, and his eyes widened just a fraction before he smiled at her pleasantly. "That you, Princess? Didn't think I'd see you again."

She gave him a nod of her head. "Hello Namboku. It's good to see you. And you'd better get used to it."

"You're back for good then?" The man nodded to himself. "Hospital could use you, that's for sure." The man stretched his back, sore from bending over. "Do you still have that deck of cards I gave you?"

Tsunade nodded, putting a hand to his coat pocket. "Right here. You still play poker?"

"Lady Tsunade..." began Shizune in reprimand.

"Eh, don't be like that young lady," said the man. "We didn't play for money. And I sure do." He peered closer at the young brunette. "Hey, is that is little Shizune? The last time I saw you, you were here with a stomach flu. Vomited all over one of the halls. I didn't think a little thing like you could hold that much."

Shizune's face turned beet red. "Sorry," she muttered.

Tsunade laughed, a warm, happy laugh. She didn't get those too often these days. "She's my assistant now, so you'll be seeing a lot of her too. The administrator's office is down this hall, correct?"

"Uh huh, end of the hall, on the right. But if you're off to see him, then I'd watch it. He makes passes at a lot of the nurses, even a few married ones."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Tsunade, her mouth setting into a hard line. Reaching the door, she didn't even bother knocking, instead going right in. The room was spacious and well furnished, dominated by a large wooden desk. It looked like it was made of solid oak. A middle aged man sat behind it in an equally large padded chair. Tsunade saw a head of dark, thinning hair before it lifted itself up to reveal the man himself, Taisho Tanizaki.

"What did I tell you about knocking...?" The man's dark eyes blinked behind a pair of glasses. "Hmm? Who are you?"

"Tsunade Senju" she said flatly. She gestured behind her. "And this is my assistant Shizune."

The man bolted up from his desk. " _Tsunade?_! W-What an honor this is. I'm Taisho Tanizaki, administrator of the Konoha Hospital."

"I could read the sign on your door."

"Yes, well," he replied with a cough. "Please, sit down. What can I do for you Lady Tsunade? Can I offer you some tea?" he said as he smiled eagerly at her.

"We'll skip the tea thank you" she replied briskly. Looking past him, she saw a bookcase that was almost filled to capacity. The range of titles were the sort of a well-read man, but Tsunade also noted the lack of a cracked spine on any of the contents other than the ones that bore his name as the author.

Taisho's eager smile faltered. "Very well. When did you arrive back in the village? If I knew you would be making a visit to my hospital, I would have arranged a proper welcome. And let me say that you look as lovely as you did in your photos Lady Tsunade. And your assistant is just as lovely."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed, protectiveness flaring up inside her. Normally she didn't mind compliments, but the man was hitting on Shizune, and she didn't like the way he was looking at her. Shizune herself was grimacing. "I just got back yesterday," replied Tsunade.

Taisho sat back down at his desk. "Ah. Well I'm not sure how much you've seen of our hospital, but I'm sure you'll find it quite impressive. I'm made quite a few improvements in the eight years I've been the administrator here. It's not perfect mind you, but I'm sure I'll have the remaining issues worked out in no time."

The thirty five year old man leaned in closer on his desk. "So how may I be of assistance Princess Tsunade?"

"As I told the Hokage yesterday, I'm planning to go back into medicine." Tsunade announced with a pleasant smile.

"Really? That's wonderful news! Were you in need of equipment for your own clinic?"

"Actually, I was interested in a position here."

The man's face lit up so much it was practically transforming into a lightbulb. "Of course we would be honored to have your presence here. Did you have a position in mind? I know a few open spots, and there are even a few doctors that I have had, shall we say, _difficulties_ with that I wouldn't mind replacing."

"Oh I had a job in mind," said Tsunade sweetly. "I was thinking of _yours._ "

Taisho, who had begun scouring a set of files and papers, looked up at her in shock. "I beg your pardon?"

She offered him a wicked grin. "You heard me. I'm here to take over as hospital administrator. Effective immediately, you're fired."

Taisho shot to his feet, his whole body tense. "T-That's ridiculous! Why in the world would I be fired? I don't care who you are, you can't just walk in and do that to me."

"Oh yes I _can._ I talked it over with the Third. You're out of here. And since we're on the subject, your so called _improvements_ aren't improvements at all. When I spoke to the Third, I had him take a look at what's been going on here, what's _really_ going on, and neither of us liked what we saw.

"Are you aware that starting four years ago, the number of dropouts from the medic program spiked significantly? Most of them happen not too far into the program. It's an incredibly high number." Tsunade still remembered the stunned expression on her sensei's face when he saw it. Tsunade herself couldn't recall that number ever being that high for as long as the Medical Corps had been established.

"And before you say anything," continued Tsunade as she saw the man's mouth open, "I can tell you the reason for it. It's because of things like _this._ " She pulled out a book from the bag Shizune had been carrying, dropping it unceremoniously on his desk.

"Four years ago is when you made changes to the class content. You altered the curriculum and replaced many of the books with your own. I saw this thing in the hands of a young genin. She was interested in learning medical ninjutsu. You know what she said? She believed she was a failure at it because she just couldn't grasp the contents of this beginner's book."

Taisho snorted. "Clearly she isn't up to my standard. Not that I'd expect a snot-nosed genin to grasp the scope of my work. That's why most beginners are chunins."

"I found that kunoichi to be bright, capable, and not lacking in motivation. And from what I hear, she's otherwise shown herself able to learn everything else put in front of her. She mastered tree climbing in mere minutes. Your so called books are convoluted, pretentious garbage.

"In many ways they approach the study of the human body in the completely wrong way. You invoke subjects far more advanced than you should cover, and quite frankly, your ability to communicate and explain ideas stinks to high heaven. The text is so filled with jargon and babble it's near incomprehensible to anyone other than an advanced medic, and even then not without difficulty."

She jabbed the book's cover, leaving the imprint of her fingernail deep within. "Students see this sort of text right from the start and it discourages them from continuing."

Taisho narrowed his eyes. "If that does happen, then I'm merely sorting the wheat from the chaff. Medicine is different than in your day. My approach is the better one, and I will only accept those capable of following my methods. Medicine in Konoha, and even the Land of Fire, will benefit from my work."

"Really? How's that working out for you? The hospital is understaffed. Every single department is lacking in personnel. Some don't even have the bare minimum of doctors. Surgeons seem to be in particularly short supply, and they're so backed up that even the simplest of procedures can't get scheduled for months, if at all."

Her mind flashed back to Yukiko's little girl, the injured leg that seemed so easy to repair. Her finger, still on the book, sunk deeper, her nail piercing the cover and jabbing into the pages. "And then there's also a rising trend among established doctors here to flat out leave Konoha to work in other villages across the Land of Fire."

"You can't blame me for them leaving," growled Taisho.

"Oh yes I can. With the understaffed nature of the hospital, you'd been encouraging everyone to take longer shifts. And when cases were still getting backed up, you apparently cut several employees' salaries, and threatened to cut it even more if they didn't, quote, _work harder._ "

"Where did you hear such drivel?!" screamed Taisho, his face turning redder with every word.

"From several of the hospital employees." Her own views on this man had startled Hiruzen, as did the statistics. Taisho had come recommended by other previous employees years ago, and as busy as the Hokage was, he'd apparently paid little attention to the hospital beyond Taisho's reports.

 _"I cannot believe that the hospital was allowed to fall into this state," said the Third as the last employee left his office. "Biwako would have never allow this to happen."_

 _Of that, Tsunade was sure. "This man needs to go before he does any more damage to the Medical Corps."_

 _"Agreed. In fact," a look of pure inspiration flashed across his wrinkled face. "You should take over in his stead."_

 _Tsunade was taken aback. "You want me to be the administrator for the whole hospital?"_

 _Sarutobi nodded. "Yes. You of all people would be able to help undo the mess that has been made of it. And such a position would allow you to work in the field of medicine without encroaching on your hemophobia."_

 _"But," interjected Shizune, "wouldn't that be interfering with monitoring Naruto? You already said yourself that the Hokage position would be too busy."_

 _"Administering the hospital is a busy job, I admit. But it is still far less demanding than this one..." The Hokage glanced forlornly down at this desk once again before looking back up at them. "So what do you say Tsunade?"_

 _She grinned. "Only if I get to deliver the news myself."_

And here she was now. She was grinning again now, a big, shark-like smile. This man had turned this hospital into a disaster. To the profession, he was trash, and it was time to take it out. "Give it up Taisho. You're out of luck. So pack up and get out of _my office._ "

"Absolutely not!" screamed the now livid chunin. He was nose to nose with her now, staring her down, eyes filled with hate and humiliation. "I am the administrator here and I will not be so easily removed from _my_ office. In fact, who's to say you're even Tsunade? I am sure that, if she were here, she would praise my techniques. I think you're just an impersonator looking to intimidate me."

He pointed a finger at her chest, the air from his heavy breathing hitting her face. "Well I'm not buying it, not from you, you ignorant, idiotic blonde _wench._ And there's nothing you can do that will ever make me leave this room."

Tsunade's grin grew even larger.

* * *

For anyone who'd been in that hall, they would have borne witness to the sight of administrator Taisho Tanizaki's door exploding outward, torn from its hinges and flying wildly outward, parts of it breaking off. Following the flight of the door was the man himself, slamming back first into the opposite wall with an extremely loud thud, leaving a crack behind, and a book smashed right into his face.

The man slumped down on the floor, completely still. Namboku the janitor, who had avoided the destruction, just walked up to the other man and prodded him with his foot. Taisho let out a long groan in response.

"Hey Namboku," called out Tsunade from the ruins of the doorway. "Call security for me and have them escort him out of the building."

"You're the boss, ma'am" replied the janitor with a salute.

Tsunade smirked. "Better believe it."

Tsunade picked up the partially destroyed door and set it back in the doorway. After she did, Namboku just looked down at the unconscious man again and just shook his head. "A man should know when to walk away," he cast a glance at the office door, "and know when to _run._ "

Whistling to himself, he went off to find security.

* * *

Author's Note: I'm proud to say that the story has now been published on DA. And not only that, those on FF may have noticed that the story now features some awesome cover art. It is, in fact, something custom made for this fic. In fact, all the images you'll see for my works on FF now have custom cover images.

The one for this fic, and those others, were all made for me by my very dear friend. She worked very hard on each of them, especially this one, drawing it up and coloring it, for no monetary reward I might add.

In fact, she's also served as my sounding board since I started tinkering with this story, and has on more than one occasion helped inject life into chapters where it was lacking, like chapter 7.

My friend was also the one who encouraged me to publish this story. So if you enjoy this story at all, if any part of it has brought you any pleasure, you owe her a debt of gratitude to her as much to me, because without exaggeration, I can say that without her input, that joy you feel wouldn't be there, and neither would this story.

As such, I HIGHLY encourage all of my readers to check out her work on DA. Please, give it a shot. For those who want to see the larger version of this awesome cover image for The Lost Boy, or any of the other cover images she's done for me, I will be putting links in my FF profile, along with one to her DA account. Go there for more details.

In other news, one of the names in this chapter is a reference to a Japanese TV show in the 90s that had a large impact. Points to anyone who can name it.

09/05/16 EDIT: Okay, so I just realized that links no longer work in an FF profile. As such, I made some changes so you can actually use them. You'll just need to add the dots and take out spaces and things like that. But they are THERE now, so feel free to use them to see this story's cover image, the artist, or any of the other cover images she's made.

And while I was at it, I took the liberty of fixing some typos and cleaning up some sentences for this chapter, as well as adding a few new ones in. It wasn't anything major, but I guess that's what happens when I post it that late.


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